Rachel Ritfield, who was set to become Mrs Thiam or wife number four to the R&B star Akon, has hit the road, saying that she wants one man. “I’m not a bad person, I don’t do anything to hurt anybody else so why can’t I be one of those women who have a normal relationship and have a family?,” she tells The Voice about the break up of her relationship with Akon. The 5’11” model who was the face of street label Akademiks, added that she couldn’t walk up the aisle and exchange vows, despite being in love with the Senegalese singer. Ritfield feared that he could later meet wife number five, which would no longer make her his favorite – and hearing the news about the birth of his fifth child to one of his other wives, woke her up from a two-year love dream. “The reality check really came when Akon told me he had his fifth child with one of his wives. For the first few months I got completely freaked out because even though I knew he had other wives, I never really thought about him being with them because his main attention was always on me – or so I thought.â “He does not live with his wives but the birth of his latest child made everything become real and made me realize that I would always have to share the man I love while accepting his other relationships.â “At first I was very supportive but I began to question that if I was taking him into consideration and he was taking his family into consideration, who was taking me into consideration? The answer was ‘nobody’ so I decided I could no longer be apart of Akon’s world.” Ritfield, who came from a violent abusive past, says Akon was like a breath of fresh air for her. “Nothing was an issue,” she says. “I came from a past that was very dramatic and scary into a relationship that appeared to be perfect.” “There was never any friction. Akon was honest with me about his mutiple wives from the start, which never got in the way of our relationship because his wives live in various parts of the world, so I thought why fix it if it’s not broken? But now I have a had a complete change of heart.” The 23-year-old model says Akon told her how much he loved her and called her ‘his lady’ promising that she would be his last wife and whatever she wanted he would grant. Speaking openly about her feelings over her break up with the Grammy award winner, Racheal added: “Akon’s love and attention was not enough. I want a lot more from a man – I need him to be active in my life not passive.â Still mending a broken heart, the former face of Miss Reggae Gold is determined to be positive about her situation. “It’s not Akon’s fault,” she says. “He is only following his cultural and religious tradition and I had to decide whether I wanted to be a part of his customs. In the end I chose to walk away. I wish him all the best and I hope that we can still remain friends.”
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