2023 witnessed all sorts of celebrity scandals but some stood out due to the attention they drew from the Kenyan public.
Celebrity scandals usually centre on relationships, vile conflicts, unnecessary dramas and other stuff that don't even make sense at times.
The scandals of 2023 were not quite different from yesteryears; just different players but similar celebrity dramas.
Below are some of the scandals of 2023:
Simple Boy vs MIB
In June 2023, Stivo Simple Boy and his wife Grace Atieno came out to lament that they were so broke that they had gone without food some days.
Grace claimed that Stivo's former management MIB was responsible for their predicament.
"Manager wake anampatia stress, yeye anajikondea tu, wakati tulikuwa nae alikuwa ameungaunga tu sasa hivi ni stress ya manager wake, pesa zake na hio account zake. Si yeye ndio anatumia, si yeye ndo anazimanage yani kila kitu manager wake ndio anamanage,” Grace said.
Grace added that Stivo was flat broke at the time.
“Sahi ata ukienda kwa simu yake kuangalia balance huwezi hata kuta shilingi kumi peke yake. Yani ata nkimwambia nitumie hata shilingi hamsini anakuambia hana na ukimuuliza pesa zako ziko wapi anasema manager wangu ndio ako nazo,” she added.
"Kwenye nyumba munakula kweli? Kuna vyakula kweli? (Are you guys even eating? Is there food?)" the interviewer asked Grace.
Stivo's wife admitted that even eating in their house was a big challenge, revealing that they often slept on an empty stomach.
"Saa zingine zipo chakula lakini kuna time twakosa saa zingine twapata. Lakini mahali ako sioni kama atasaidika," she said.
MIB CEO Vaga Genius dismissed Grace Atieno's claim that the management was responsible for them getting broke.
He said the label had everything sorted for Stivo, adding that the rapper would never suffer.
"Stivo sijui hana nini. Ata bila mashow bado vitu zake zinafanyika. There are people taking care of that. Hizi claims mimi nazichukulia tu poa sababu kila mtu ana ile right ya kuongea. Saa zingine anawezajisemea mwenyewe," Vaga said.
Ultimately Stivo quit MIB but his fortune didn't quite turn around.
The rapper had similar issues with his former management Made In Kibera (MIK).
Stivo's ex-girlfriend Purity Vishenwa alias Pritty Vishy complained numerous times that Stivo’s old management MIK gave him a raw deal.
Vera Sidika vs Shakilla
In August 2023, Shakilla picked up a fight with Vera Sidika when she called on her to retire from the game.
Shakilla said Vera should retire from being a socialite and focus on raising her children since her ‘time’ was up.
The young socialite who was speaking during an interview with a local publication, also claimed that Vera was too old to be in the streets with young women like her.
“Vera is a mother right now she can’t compare herself with people like us. Settle down and breastfeed your kids we don’t need you in the streets your time is up, you’re done,” she stated.
Vera Sidika responded after Shakilla asked her to retire.
Taking to her InstaStories, Vera called out Shakilla accusing her of doublespeak since she was actively engaging her comment section while pretending to bash her in public.
“The old nyash you bashing in public inspires u in my comment section. Grab a seat tell us how many babies u left unattended in your village,” Vera Sidika wrote.
The two socialites went back to throwing shades at each other again on December 22, 2023.
After months of ceasefire, Shakilla fired the first shot when she commented on Vera Sidika’s post claiming she had copied her hairstyle.
Both Vera and Shikilla donned pink-colored weaves.
“Copying my hair color is crazy 😂😂🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️,” Shakilla commented on Vera Sidika’s post.
In a quick rejoinder, Vera angrily fired back at Shakilla, mocking her for having beat-up booty.
“@i.am_shakilla shut the f*ck up with yo raggedy **s,” Vera commented.
Before their beef, Shakilla had been praising Vera Sidika as her role model. The two socialites even met in 2020 for the first time.
The true reason why the two are beefing remains a mystery at the moment.
Jackie Matubia vs Milly Chebby
Milly Chebby and Jackie Matubia used to be Best Friends Forever (BFFs) until they had an ugly fallout and started throwing subliminal shots at each other.
Netizens noticed all was not well between Milly and Jackie after the latter failed to attend the former’s traditional wedding.
Jackie Matubia was conspicuously missing at Milly Chebby and Terence Creative’s traditional wedding held in Eldoret on October 21, 2023.
“You didn’t go to your best friend’s wedding?” A fan asked Jackie on social media.
“Can’t you see me here? Why ask when there’s already an answer?” She answered.
“Why are you defending yourself?” Another fan asked.
“Why should I defend myself when people have already said I have a bad heart and no husband?” Jackie Matubia.
Weeks later, Jackie and Milly unfollowed each other on social media.
Chebby, when responding to a fan's inquiry about the unfollowing innocently claimed that she was not aware that she had been unfollowed.
"Gai, mko serious, ndo naskia na nyinyi, acha I go and confirm, it's called seasons of life, it's very normal, it's well," she wrote.
Pritty Vishy vs sugar boys
Pritty Vishy has been viciously fighting to ward off opportunistic sugar boys who are after her mother's Saudi money.
Vishy’s mother returned to Kenya on October 7, 2023, after four and a half years in Saudi Arabia where she worked as a house help.
Ever since her return, sugar boys have been all over her DMs trying to win her love and squander the coins she got after working in Saudi Arabia for four years.
However, Pritty Vishy has taken it upon herself to make sure her mother is not exploited by sugar boys.
Since October, Vishy has been warning youthful suitors against sending her mom romantic messages on social media.
On December 15, Vishy exposed a sugar boy who slid into her mother’s DM to shoot his shots.
“Hi beautiful, I like you,” the message from the young man read.
In a quick rejoinder, Vishy informed the sugar boy that she was accessing her mother’s DMs as she yet again warned the young suitors to keep off her mother.
“Sasa umeona ukuje tu dm ya mamamgu. Hana pesa ya Saudi ya kukupea navile wewe ni mtoto mdogo nkt,” Pritty Vishy responded to the young man who seduced her mother.
She went on to caution young men against hitting on her mother.
“Young boys, stop looking for my mother, she does not have money for a sugar mummy, just have respect, jeez. Huyu amekua DM akaona simjibu akamua mamangu ndio konki,” Vishy wrote.
However, Vishy's mother, while speaking in an interview with Mungai Eve, did not rule out falling in love with young men as long as they are mature and also meet her other irreducible minimums.
She invited prospective young men to pursue her romantically but warned them that she would not condone immaturity.
"Ukiwa tu mature ni sawa unitafute lakini unmature ata utatoka kwangu ukiwa kiwete," she said.
Samidoh, Karen Nyamu
In terms of scandals, Samidoh, Karen Nyamu, Edday Nderitu and Bernice Saroni are the undisputed royalties of relationship dramas in Kenya.
We would need to write a whole book if we were to delve into each and every scandal the four have been involved in.
Samidoh is romantically involved with Edday Nderitu (his estranged wife) and Karen Nyamu. Bernice Saroni has always been dragged into the mix because she is blamed for 'aiding' Edday to leave her matrimonial home and relocate to the US.
The four have been treating Kenyans to all sorts of scandals from the very first days of January 2023 to the last days of December 2023.
2023 started when Karen Nyamu and Samidoh had parted ways following a fight between the UDA-nominated senator and Edday at a club in Dubai in December 2022.
Nyamu and Samidoh got back together that same January 2023 to the detriment of Edday.
Edday and her three children moved to the US in early May leaving her husband to Karen Nyamu.
On July 22, 2023, Samidoh's estranged wife said in a post on social media that she was not in a polygamous marriage, adding that she had left her husband to 'whoever needed him more'.
Even with Edday away in the US, Karen Nyamu and Samidoh's relationship has still been a rollercoaster of drama galore. The two are always on/off like the frequent Kenya Power blackouts.
In November, Samidoh and Karen Nyamu unfollowed each other on Instagram before the Mugithi singer claimed he was very single.
Just days after Samidoh lamented in a TikTok video how he had been downgraded from being a polygamous man to a single boy, Karen Nyamu filmed him babysitting their children. So yeah, understanding these two people takes more than a PhD in rocket science.
DJ Fatxo, Jeff Mwathi
Lawrence Njuguna Wagura, popularly known as DJ Fatxo, went through hell and back following the death of Jeff Mwathi.
Mwathi died on February 22, 2023, after allegedly falling from DJ Fatxo's house.
DJ Fatxo was not only accused of having a hand in Mwathi's death but suspicion also arose that the deceased was sexually molested.
Investigators exhumed Jeff Mwathi's body on March 31, 2023, in a bid to establish if he was sexually molested before he met his death.
However, after the forensic investigations, the tests returned negative concluding that Mwathi was not sexually molested.
DCI in April 2023 forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP)’s office for action the file on the investigations into Jeff Mwathi’s death.
According to the DCI report, Mwathi’s death remains inconclusive with possible suicide suggested as the strongest explanation for how he met his death.
DPP acting on the DCI’s file failed to charge DJ Fatxo and ordered an inquest into Jeff Mwathi's death.
In an interview with Obinna in June 2023, DJ Fatxo explained the circumstances that led to suspicions that Jeff Mwathi was sexually molested in his house before he died.
DJ Fatxo also strongly denied claims that he was gay.
