Nigerian chef, Damilola Adeparusi, widely known as Chef Dammy, has opened up about the emotional toll she suffered following her 2023 cook-a-thon attempt, revealing how social media criticism left her broken.
In a recent interview snippet shared by Instablog9ja on Thursday, the Ekiti-born chef said she never anticipated the massive attention her cooking marathon would generate.
“My interest in cooking started when I began living alone as a student,” she recalled. “Even the cook-a-thon, I didn’t know it was going to be viral. I didn’t even tell my parents about it; they just saw me. I was shocked to see myself on social media.”
Chef Dammy explained that the cyberbullying that trailed her attempt pushed her to a breaking point.
“There was a time in my life I was even telling God, ‘Can this wait a bit? Can I at least forget some things?’ I felt overwhelmed,” she said. “The cyberbullying was just a little compared to what I experienced in real life. I was bullied, I was assaulted. I was broken. Social media broke me.”
Reflecting on her journey, the chef added that she has grown stronger over time and can now speak about the experience without breaking down.
“If you had asked me this question two years ago or a year ago, I might be crying. But now I’m happy I can talk about this without crying,” she said.
Earlier this year, Chef Dammy enrolled for professional culinary training at the Hospitality Business School in Lagos, where she is pursuing a diploma in Culinary Arts on a full scholarship.