Yemi Solade left church 13 years ago after a clash over Sunday work — but that’s not the whole story

• Yemi Solade has not attended church in 13 years but says he remains devoted to God.

• He said a 2013 dispute over working on Sundays contributed to his decision to leave the church.

• Solade also revealed that he avoids close friendships but shares a deep bond with his wife, Hannah Marsh.

At 66, Nollywood veteran Yemi Solade says he has not stepped inside a church in 13 years. But he insists he has never spent a day away from God.

Speaking on the Curiosity Made Me Ask podcast, Solade explained why he stopped attending church.

“God created me in His image. I stopped going to church 13 years ago because I was not finding it funny any longer. Though I am a child of God,” he said.

Solade said he does not believe his relationship with God should be tied to Sunday worship. “There is no Sunday in the Bible. Without God, I will not be alive,” he said.

But his decision to leave church dates back to a disagreement in 2013 that involved his work as an actor.

In 2025, while speaking on The Honest Bunch podcast, Solade recalled being told by his former church to ask film producers not to give him work on Sundays because the day was meant for worship.

For an actor whose livelihood depended on accepting jobs, the instruction did not sit well with him.

“I’d been told in the church that I should tell producers not to call me for work on Sundays. And I cursed the pastor,” he recalled.

According to Solade, the same acting jobs he was being asked to turn down paid his bills and enabled him to contribute financially to the church.

The disagreement became a turning point. Solade said staying away from church eventually brought him peace, while questioning the belief that missing Sunday service would automatically bring misfortune.

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That experience helps explain how he can reject church attendance without believing he has rejected God.

“I know God too well. If you get close to me, you will know that God lives in me,” he said on Curiosity Made Me Ask.

But Solade's distance is not limited to organised religion. On the same podcast, he made another striking revelation about his social life.

“I do not have a friend. I do not roll with anybody, but I move with the world because God has instructed me to do that for myself,” he said.

He added, “I am loved by a lot of people, and I love a lot of people. But I do not have intimacy with people. It is good for me.”

That may sound unusual for an actor who has spent more than four decades surrounded by colleagues, producers and audiences. But Solade has long described himself as someone who does not seek to belong to cliques.

In a 2024 interview with The Nation, he said some colleagues considered him “complex” and “heady”, a reputation he said had followed him for about 30 years.

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He attributed it partly to his training, which taught him to speak up when he believed something was wrong. “I have a caustic tongue,” he said.

Solade has also acknowledged that his bluntness and unwillingness to conform have sometimes brought him into conflict with colleagues and producers.

Yet there is one relationship that appears to sit outside the boundaries he places around his social life: his marriage.

Solade met Hannah Marsh while they were working on Wale Adenuga's Super Story. After his first marriage ended when his former wife relocated abroad, he began a relationship with Hannah. They married in 2003.

More than two decades later, Solade continues to speak openly about their relationship.

When they celebrated their 21st wedding anniversary in 2024, he renewed his vows to Hannah, reflecting on the promises they made in 2003 and how their love had endured despite the challenges they faced.

He has also described marriage as a form of friendship. “Marriage is more like friendship because it is a life contract,” he said.

Solade credits Hannah's patience, sacrifice and understanding for helping their relationship endure, describing her as “God-sent”.

He says he does not seek intimacy with people, avoids social circles and has not attended church in 13 years. Yet he has spent more than two decades building a deeply personal relationship with his wife.

That points to the fact that perhaps it is not that Solade does not value closeness, but he is selective about who gets it and what deserves his commitment.

For Solade, leaving church did not mean leaving God. And staying away from the crowd does not appear to mean living without connection.