Singer Iryn Namubiru has opened up about a difficult chapter in her family life, revealing that her mother cut off communication with her for months while she was pregnant with her first child and living in the United Kingdom.
Namubiru said the fallout happened in 2002, shortly after she got married and moved abroad with her husband. Away from her family and friends, she was preparing to become a mother for the first time when her relationship with her own mother took a difficult turn.
She recalled that she initially shared the news of her pregnancy with her best friend, Lydia, before telling her mother about two months later. However, by the time she was about three months pregnant, the two had stopped communicating.
The silence lasted until her son was four and a half months old, meaning she went through much of her pregnancy, childbirth and the early months of motherhood without hearing from her mother.
In a lengthy social media post, the singer explained that the disagreement was linked to money and her mother’s expectations of her marriage.
Namubiru said she had helped arrange travel visas for her mother and half-brother, Nicholas, to visit the UK and paid half of their air tickets. However, she later learnt that her mother was unhappy with her choice of husband, particularly over what she perceived as his financial contribution to the marriage.
The singer recalled her mother questioning why she had married a man who did not give her money, making remarks that left her feeling judged over her relationship.
She said she did not even know that her mother and half-brother had arrived in the UK until three weeks later, when the woman hosting them informed her that her mother did not want to speak to her.
When her mother eventually called months later, Namubiru said she expected to hear greetings or questions about her pregnancy and the baby. Instead, the conversation immediately turned to an altercation her mother had reportedly had with a colleague at work.
She recalled answering the phone only to hear her mother explain that they had fought and that she had been bitten. The singer said there were no questions about how she was doing or how the baby was.
Namubiru later learnt more about the incident after the woman involved threatened to reveal what had happened and the circumstances surrounding the fight.
The singer acknowledged that her mother had grievances against her and that she may not have lived up to the expectations placed on her. However, she said the experience was particularly painful because it happened at a time when she needed her mother’s love and support the most.
