How My Father Disowned Me – Hilda Baci Painfully Opens Up

Guinness World Record breaker Hilda Baci opened up about being disowned by her father, Effiong Bassey Edem, and their strained relationship.

She shared this revelation during an interview on the ‘Tea with Tay’ podcast hosted by Taymesan Emmanuel. Hilda explained that her father had been a part of her and her siblings’ lives since childhood, but their relationship deteriorated due to a heated altercation between him and her mother.

She was deeply hurt by her father’s unexpected departure, especially as she and her older brother, Gabriel, were close to completing their university studies.

Her father had previously funded their education from nursery through secondary school and the early years of their tertiary education.

Hilda recalled a heartbreaking phone call with her father about school expenses, during which he disowned her by saying, “Who’s your dad?” This marked the beginning of his withdrawal of financial support.

Initially, she thought he was joking, but he ultimately stopped funding her education and providing allowances for her upkeep.

Hilda expressed her feelings of abandonment and the impact it had on her during her university years.

In her words, “For me, I will say one of the biggest issues was when he abandoned me. He did not abandon me from on set I think that he was present for us to some extent. But when it came dawn on me, was when my father and mom had issues. It was more profounded on me because I was in 300 level second semester in University.”

“I pretty much remember our conversation between me and my father on one matriculation day. I was like, you did not bring food for me and his response was like, ‘Who’s your dad?’. It later dawned on me years after that he was not actually joking…..”