What Freshley Mwamburi's wife thinks of 'Stella'

 Legendary afro-beat icon Freshley Mwamburi with his wife Dorcas Nduku during an interview in 2021.[Boniface Okendo, Standard]

May 17 is the so-called anniversary of Stella's return from Japan to Kenya. Social media was abuzz with mentions of #Stella and how she 'ate' Freshley Mwamburi's airfare.

In a previous interview with Standard Entertainment, Mwamburi and his wife Dorcas confirmed that Stella was indeed a real person.

When Mwamburi met Stella, she was 16 years old and he was in his twenties.

She studied in a college next to his place of work and they dated for a while. As the song goes, she got the opportunity to go to Japan.

Mwamburi graciously funded her trip and her stay there, only for her to show up in Kenya with a four-foot-tall Japanese man and their baby.

"That was in 1992 and he was her teacher at the school," he said.

So now the boy must have grown to a man in his late 20s or early 30s. Is he on social media? Mwamburi seems uncertain.

What about Stella? Is she on social media? Can we talk to her?

"She is on social media, but it is very hard to talk to her. BBC tried to talk to her and I called her and she refused. She is someone else's wife now. We have to respect that," he said.

The artiste has done a remix of the song, which also doesn't have Stella's side of the story.

"You know, I have my side of the story. It is like a meal and it works with what I have. I already have the ingredients for the original song, so I had to use those," he says.

Besides, he got over it and does not blame her. "That is how it was supposed to be. I cannot be angry.

Even if it was me who had gone to another country and found someone else, wouldn't I have done the same? Life has to go on," he said.

Even Stella was happy to hear the song, he said, so there are no hard feelings.

Exit Stella, enters Dorcas. They have been married for over 21 years and have five children. Mwamburi says she has had the most influence in his life.

Dorcas does not mind the hype around Stella, and says she met her and that they are on good terms.

"She held the position for a while, but it was supposed to be mine and I am here now!" she says.

Here is the video: