As the child of the respected and influential provincial commissioner, Peter Raburu, he has been exposed to living life in the public since he was a child. Still, it did nothing to prepare Willis Raburu for the media glare he would experience from his marriage to Mary Ngami, widely known as Marya Prude.
From the moment they walked down the aisle and became a couple, their marriage faced different situations and events, including a personal tragedy. Eventually, it became one challenge too many, and they called it quits. Despite the separation, the scrutiny on the couple has not dissipated.
There have been many unconfirmed rumors and theories flying around as to the reasons for their marital failure. It is also unclear if the couple has moved on from the tumultuous situation. What was the genesis of their meeting? How long were they married for and what happened on that honeymoon of theirs? Here is the full account of the infamous marriage.
Willis Raburu and Marya Prude had a very Exclusive Wedding
Nobody knew Willis Raburu and Marya Prude were an item. Nobody, in this context, means the general public and teeming fans. The couple kept their relationship away from the harsh glare of the media. What this means is that they rarely ever talked about their relationship.
While close friends and acquaintances of both individuals would have been aware, it remained a closely guarded secret. It came as a shock when Willis Raburu took to social media to post their wedding picture.
He introduced Mary Ngami, aka Marya Prude, to the world as his wife. The wedding had taken place a day before, on the 5th of May 2017, and it was a very exclusive event. It had only close friends and family in attendance, keeping in line with the decision to keep their relationship under wraps.
Many people felt Willis had rushed into the marriage as he could not have known Marya Prude for a significant period before the wedding. He countered this sentiment by declaring that he had met Marya Prude earlier than people tend to think.
They First Met Each Other in Church
According to Willis Raburu, he met Marya Prude in Church and was immediately attracted to her. However, he refrained from making a move as he was still in a relationship with Sally Mbilu at the time. Willis was previously in a relationship with Sally, his colleague at Royal Media Services. He had proposed to her, and they were due to get married. However, he broke off the engagement and ended the relationship in unclear circumstances.
Marya and Raburu only got together after a year had passed since he first met her. They met in Jubilee Christian Church after a friend named Pablo introduced them. Her beauty blew him away, but they did not begin a relationship until his breakup with Sally Mbilu.
Their relationship was off to a rocky start as Raburu was skeptical about whether Marya was interested in Willis the man or Willis the TV star. As a result, he frequently canceled on her and barely replied to her messages.
He was eventually convinced of her genuineness when he broke his leg, and some of his friends abandoned him. Marya Prude began visiting him, and they got to know each other better. He was surprised by her gifting him things instead of collecting them from him. Eventually, her genuine spirit and pure heart convinced him she was the right partner.
The Couple’s Terrible Honeymoon Experience Set the Tone for their Married Life
One of the things newly-weds look forward to after the rigors of planning and executing a wedding ceremony is their honeymoon. A time to get away from everybody and spend some quality time together, setting the tone for their marriage. Honeymoons often entail a lot of fun, getting to know each other even better, and building a bond that will ensure inevitable tough times do not last.
For Willis Raburu and Marya Prude, their honeymoon period was one of chaos and unsettlement. The newly-weds at the time spent their honeymoon at an unnamed hotel, and it proved to be a disaster. Things started on the wrong note as payment for the hotel was made on the wedding day. Furthermore, Willis Raburu could only make half the payment seeing as he did not have enough cash.
The problems continued from there as they found out the bed in the hotel room was ridiculously high, and Marya had to climb to get in it. Additionally, they received visits from numerous insects and animals, including millipedes, snails, and even a reptile that shares a resemblance with a monitor lizard. The cherry on top was Marya’s period, which prevented the couple from consummating the marriage.
According to them, the hotel’s Italian owners did not help them with their malaise. Perhaps, this terrible honeymoon set the tone for the rest of their marriage as they continued to encounter different obstacles and challenges.
Losing their Child was a Blow They Never Recovered From
When Marya Prude got married in 2019, it represented a huge positive for the couple. They were finally on the way to building their own family, and things were starting to look up. Unfortunately for Willis Raburu and his bride, they were dealt the cruelest sucker punch when they lost their daughter.
Their marriage never really recovered from the tragedy. Raburu broke the news on social media, explaining that his wife had been having complications since she got pregnant. Further complications occurred during labor, and there was also a blood clot. This complication led to their baby daughter coming out as a stillbirth on the 3rd of January 2020.
The effect of losing what was supposed to be their first child was felt in different ways. They decided to immortalize their daughter by getting tattoos of her. Mary Ngami had her baby girl’s name, Adana, tattooed on her, and Willis Raburu got a tattoo of the first letter with a crown on top and the date of her death.
This particular move made it look like the couple would unite and come out of the challenge stronger than ever. However, it never played out that way as they separated shortly after. Their daughter’s death is not considered the leading cause of their separation. Still, it set the ball rolling, and they never recovered from it.
The Death of Adana had Mary Prude Questioning God and Willis Raburu Took a Break from Work
Mary Ngami was generally known as a staunch Christian who displayed her love for God publicly and loudly. The death of her daughter did, however, shake her faith and belief to its core. She initially stayed away from social media, choosing not to speak of the incident. Ngami eventually posted an emotional message on Instagram, detailing how the event had changed her relationship with God.
According to her post, the ordeal tested every way she knew God, and He failed to prove Himself when she needed Him the most. It made her declare that she was no longer interested in knowing God. However, she retraced her steps months later as she went back to Church for the first time since the tragic event and declared she had an amazing time.
Willis Raburu, on the other hand, could not deal with the pain of losing his child alone. He announced he was taking a break from work to grieve with his wife and offer support to one another. The radio host, news anchor, and TV Presenter sent a message of appreciation to the public for their sympathy and love. He also thanked his colleagues for covering his shifts while he worked through his emotions and mourned. He has since returned to work.
The Couple Separated Months After the Loss of their Daughter Amidst Claims of Infidelity
The marriage between Willis Raburu and Marya Prude was never the same after the loss of their daughter. Eventually, the couple separated and began living in different places. They had previously cohabited together in Phantom Estate, Langata.
Unconfirmed rumors claimed repeated incidents of infidelity by Willis Raburu caused the separation. According to sources, their marital troubles began when Marya Prude got pregnant, and Raburu started cheating. His infidelity continued even after their daughter died. When confronted by Marya Prude, he asked her to move from their home.
She eventually relocated to a rented house paid for by Raburu along Kiambu Road, and Raburu moved back to his family house. The couple ensured they divided the household items before vacating their home and relocated to separate places.
The object of Willis Raburu’s extramarital affection is said to be a Ugandan woman who also works at Royal Media Services. The woman resides in Langa’ta, and Raburu allegedly frequents the place. When the separation first occurred, Marya Prude deactivated all her social media account pages. She is now back and seems to have moved on. To date, Wills Raburu has refused to comment on the cheating allegations and if they were indeed responsible for his separation from his wife.
Willis Raburu Regrets Subjecting Mary Ngami to Public Scrutiny
Since separating from his wife, Mary Ngami, Willis Raburu has thrown himself into work and has even become a musician. However, the sting of separating from his wife continues to hurt him. He admitted that he could have done some things better in his marriage and has conceded he has regrets.
The biggest regret for him was not protecting his wife from public scrutiny and making their marriage a more private affair. According to him, it is his fault that the public continuously talks about his wife as he was the one that posted photos of them in the first place. By doing so, he exposed her to the public and gave them permission to go ahead and discuss certain aspects of their life, and it may have cost him.
He confesses that he has now learned how to keep his personal life more private, and he will only talk about his separation from his wife in a sit-down with her. He has also admitted he still loves and respects his estranged wife, and he will not speak about her in her absence.
The Ex-Couple seem to at Least be Amicable Despite their Separation
Despite the allegedly controversial manner of their separation, it looks like there is still some level of a good-natured relationship left between both Willis Raburu and Mary Ngami. In recent times, Willis Raburu has been the subject of social media trolls after deciding to change his hairstyle. He went from his well-groomed low-cut hair to a plaited version, and it was not well received on Instagram and Twitter.
Marya Prude was consistently tagged by fans and members of the public. She finally responded by thanking the fans for bringing it to her and expressing that everyone should live their best life and do what they want.
While everything does not seem to be back to normal, and they do not look like getting back soon, her commenting on his new look suggests there is no bad blood on her part. The incident came after Willis Raburu did not send a public birthday message to Marya Prude on her birthday in August.
Willis Raburu and Mary Ngami Remain Legally Married Despite Their Separation
Although the couple has been separated for several months now, fans need to know that they remain legally married in the eyes of the law. There has been no divorce petition from either of them and no court case to seek dissolution or annulment of the union.
Marya Prude remains estranged from her husband. On her return to social media, she removed her husband’s surname, Raburu, from her name and started going by Marya Prude once again. It was a clear enough message that the couple was indeed separated, and things were not going well.
Marya Prude has expressed she is unsure if she will ever heal from the events that have occurred since the beginning of the year. From losing her baby in January to finding out her husband was cheating, their separation, and her social media exile, it has been a rough year for her.
Despite this, it is crucial to recognize that she and Willis Raburu are not legally divorced and remain a married couple in the eyes of the law. Whether this will change in the nearest future or not remains to be seen. Fans are also hopeful there is a reconciliation and reunion somewhere for the ex-couple.
Willis Raburu remains Single and is not Officially Dating Anyone
Despite the rumors that Willis Raburu’s marriage with Mary Ngami ended due to his cheating escapades, he has remained single since his separation. He has refused to address the cheating allegations and hasn’t been seen with a new woman.
A woman identified as Miva Noella, whose picture made the rounds on social media, was widely rumored to be the woman behind their separation.
Things got so heated that the woman in question had to come out and address the allegations. She was getting so many direct messages from fans, and the attacks were unwarranted. She claims not to know who Willis Raburu is and confesses she has never met him before.
Since making the declaration, no other woman has been linked to Raburu, suggesting he has not moved on from separating from his wife of three years. He may also have moved on but has learned his lesson by keeping things extremely private. Whatever the truth is, it is only a matter of time before it becomes public.
