Nollywood actress Juliana Olayode, popularly known as Toyo Baby, has revealed that she spent years praying for the restoration of her relationship with filmmaker Funke Akindele.

Speaking in an interview with media personality Chude Jideonwo, the actress said what mattered most to her during their time apart was fixing their relationship, not collaborating with her.

“I am so grateful to God. All those years, I just kept putting it in my prayer request. I don’t care if I don’t ever get to work with her again on her projects. What I want is to be able to go to her house, to be able to laugh with her, to be able to see her and greet her. It was just the relationship,” she said.

Olayode rose to prominence as Toyosi in Jenifa’s Diary, the hit comedy series created by Akindele. Her character, popularly called Toyo Baby, became a favourite and played a key role in the show’s early success.

However, her sudden disappearance from the series left fans speculating for years about a possible fallout between the two actresses. At the time, neither party publicly addressed the situation.

In late 2023, Olayode broke her silence in a detailed Instagram post, offering insight into what went wrong. She admitted that her inexperience in the industry, combined with poor guidance from a former guardian who acted as her manager, contributed to the breakdown in their relationship.

According to her, the guardian sent an email to the producers of the show without her knowledge. An action she later discovered had caused hurt and tension.

Reflecting on that period, Olayode described her early rise to fame as overwhelming. Fresh out of secondary school, she said she was unprepared for the scale of attention and responsibility that came with being thrust into the spotlight.

She used the post to apologise publicly to Akindele, taking responsibility for her role in the situation and describing her actions at the time as “childish mistakes.”

“I am incredibly sorry for how I hurt you,” she wrote, adding that she had since made peace with the actress in private.

Akindele responded saying “My Juliana… I miss you… omo mi. I love you. See you soon,” she wrote.

The reconciliation marked both a personal and professional reunion between the two. By December 2023, both actresses were back on set together, with Olayode expressing excitement at working again with the woman she describes as a mentor.

She went on to feature in some of Akindele’s recent projects, including A Tribe Called Judah and Everybody Loves Jenifa.

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