Fitness expert Maje Ayida has opened up about his painful struggle with depression following his highly publicized divorce from media personality Toke Makinwa, admitting he “checked out of life for a whole year” to recover.
In an emotional testimony at a UK church that has gone viral, the entrepreneur described how the 2017 split left him ashamed and unable to work. “I withdrew from society. My self-esteem was destroyed – not just for myself, but what I’d done to my family name,” Ayida confessed. He revealed he stopped going to work, lost business deals, and couldn’t even get out of bed wondering ‘What’s the point?’
The fitness guru shared details of his darkest moments, including severe insomnia and paranoia in public. He turned down work opportunities for 12 months, constantly feeling “everyone was talking about” him while battling overwhelming hopelessness. His turning point came through research and self-accountability. “Taking blame made things worse at first, but practical steps pulled me out. I had to choose survival,” he explained.
The couple’s 2014 marriage collapsed in 2016 amid cheating allegations. Makinwa’s 2017 memoir “On Becoming” detailing their marriage led to Ayida’s successful N100m defamation lawsuit, with a 2020 court ruling requiring charity donations and book edits.