Former Ghana football star, Nii Odartey Lamptey, has opened up about the deep emotional turmoil he experienced upon discovering that the three children he raised with his ex-wife, Gloria Appiah, were not his biological offspring.
In a recent interview with Dan Kwaku Yeboah TV on YouTube, Lamptey described the devastating moment he learned the truth in 2013 through DNA tests.
“I took that decision [to pull a gun], but God spoke to me and since then I haven’t touched my gun. The gun was in my Tundra, but I decided I would not do anything,” he disclosed.
Lamptey, who was nearly driven to despair, recounted how he had to control his anger to avoid making a decision that could have landed him in jail.
Reflecting on his experience, he shared, “I had to control my anger, otherwise I could’ve been in prison by now. And I wouldn’t have been able to have my three children. So, sometimes when you get angry, you have to think twice before taking action.”
The revelation led to the collapse of Lamptey’s 20-year marriage and a protracted legal battle over compensation for Appiah.
In 2017, Lamptey won a lawsuit in which his ex-wife claimed 50 per cent of his fortune, The Punch reported.
The Accra High Court ruled that Appiah had committed adultery and nullified her request for half of Lamptey’s wealth, ordering her to vacate his seven-bedroom apartment in East Legon within 30 days.
Lamptey, now 49 and a former player for Anderlecht and Aston Villa, also shared his experience of being smuggled to Belgium with a Nigerian passport.
Despite his tumultuous past, he is now happily married to actress Ruweida Yakubu, with whom he shares three children.
