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| Image: IG |
Content creator Jarvis has taken a trip down memory lane, sharing some of the difficult experiences that shaped her while growing up and the circumstances that eventually pushed her and her sister towards TikTok.
Speaking at Pastor Tobi Adegboyega’s church in the UK, Jarvis talked about growing up in a complicated family situation and the role her grandparents played in raising her.
She said her mother’s struggles with bipolar disorder made her childhood particularly difficult, describing the uncertainty of never knowing what to expect at home.
She said:
“I was already exhausted. Grandpa was sick, and I came into a family through a mother who has bipolar disorder. Growing up with her has been very stressful and depressing because sometimes the disorder is crazy.
Today, she’s nice and good; the next minute, she’s violent, destroying things and insulting us. ‘Oh, you, this stupid child. What are you doing here? Your father is mad.’
I didn’t grow up with my dad because I don’t know who my dad is. She travelled out of the country, got pregnant, came back to Nigeria and gave birth to me.
So, I don’t know anything about my father. But she keeps saying, ‘Oh, your dad is this, your dad is that.’ Growing up without a dad has not been good because my mom is not mentally okay.”
Despite the situation at home, Jarvis said her grandparents gave her the structure she needed while growing up. She described them as educated and strict, adding that their discipline helped shape the person she eventually became.
“I grew up with Grandma and Grandpa, so they did their best to raise me well. They were very learned and strict. So, the whole strictness thing was what tamed me, and I appreciate them because it really helped my life.”
Things became even more difficult when there was no money to pay her school fees. Jarvis said she was determined to stay in school and did not want financial hardship to push her into making choices she would later regret.
“When everything was going down, there were no school fees, and I didn’t want to be a dropout. I didn’t want to go the wrong way to make money and turn into something else. Yes, there was peer group influence. Some girls would tell me, ‘Oh, do this. Follow this guy. You will have this money.’”
Her entry into TikTok came through a friend who suggested that she try livestreaming. At first, Jarvis was unsure about the idea, but her first experience gave her a reason to keep going.
“But a friend of mine saw somebody on TikTok, and she messaged me. She was like, ‘Hey girl, you should start going live on TikTok. You will earn money.’ I was like, ‘How?’ So, the first day I tried it with my sister, I had 200 views and made $5, and I was like wow.”
For Jarvis and her sister, even the small earnings meant something at the time. She recalled how they struggled with hunger and sometimes watched food videos online simply because they could not afford the food they wanted.
“Due to hunger, because we were always hungry, we would go on TikTok and watch food just to get satisfied, salivate, and, at the end of the day, we would cry and pray and just say, ‘God, help us.’ But when we went live and saw like five dollars, we were happy.”
She and her sister continued livestreaming, although Jarvis admitted that she was naturally shy. Her family’s attitude towards social media also made things more difficult because they were not comfortable with her being active online.
“We started going live often, my sister and I. I’m a very shy person, but with her, it was cool. My family doesn’t like social media, and that was the problem. If they saw me online, they would kill me. My grandma would be like, ‘Is this the life you’re turning into?".
As they continued, the sisters eventually moved from livestreaming into content creation. It was during this period that Jarvis crossed paths with Peller.
“I met Peller on a livestream. He was wooing my sister. He was liking me, but I was like, ‘Bro, don’t talk to me. Talk to my sister. You and her would have that connection."
Jarvis said she initially kept her distance because she was shy and worried about how her family would react if they saw her interacting with a man online. She also considered the age difference between them.
“I was shy, and I was scared that if my family saw it online that a boy was talking to me, they would insult me. There was also the age gap. So, I was like, ‘Okay, does this guy really know that I am older and more experienced?."
At the time, Jarvis said she simply viewed Peller as someone who could be part of her content journey. She did not expect their relationship to eventually become something more serious.
“My own was, ‘Let’s create content, have fun. Dey your dey, let me dey my dey. If we meet in front, we’ll just be friends.’ I never expected all this reality to come into picture.”
#Jarvis #Peller
#TikTok
#Entertainment
#Nigeria
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