Popular Kenyan fashion designer Austin Bolo, alias Bolo Bespoke, has sparked conversation online after openly declaring that a man must accept being “controlled” by his wife for a marriage to survive.
He added that most men in successful marriages are in the same position but simply do not admit it.
Speaking during an interview with Oga Obinna, Bolo was asked about widely circulating claims that his wife Mueni “amemkalia.”
Rather than push back, Bolo embraced it entirely.
“From where I’m seated, marriage doesn’t work kama mwanaume hajakaliwa. That’s the reason why you’re not married, you want to be in control, bro,” he told Obinna.
“You have to choose a struggle. If you’re going to have a marriage, there’s only one way it goes down.”
He went further, insisting that men in marriages simply don’t speak openly about this reality.
“Let nobody tell you, men don’t talk in marriages. But any marriage that you see works… you would have asked Kibaki if he was alive,” he said with a laugh. “For a marriage to work, bro, somebody has to be on top, and guess who, the woman.”
When Obinna asked whether getting married means accepting being controlled by a woman, Bolo did not hide.
“It’s the only way it works, bro. Women have been ruling this world from the bedroom since we had a world. Even presidents, most of the decisions they make, guess whose idea they are? Women,” he stated.
Bolo also acknowledged that he is not alone in this reality, noting that many men are in the same position but would rather not say so publicly.
“Tuko wengi bro, ni venye watu hawasemi,” he said.
The conversation comes after Mueni, Bolo’s wife, revealed in a past interview with Alex Mwakideu that the early days of their relationship were not easy.
She disclosed that her own brother had hired people to physically assault Bolo, though she intervened to stop it.
“My brother literally hired people to beat Bolo without killing him. And I told him not hurt Bolo and just let him be,” she said.
Mueni also reflected on the emotional baggage Bolo carried into the relationship, saying the traumas he arrived with left him largely indifferent to everything around him, even infidelity.
“Those traumas that Bolo came with into the relationship is what made Bolo care for nothing. He didn’t care for nothing except his mom. Ulikuwa unapata Bolo anacheat, anakuambia babe sijachange dem,” she stated.
