Ghanaian movie star, businessman and politician John Setor Dumelo has revealed that he had prior knowledge of some of the things his friend and creative arts colleague Yvonne Nelson exposed in her memoir titled I'm Not Yvonne Nelson. 

On the sidelines of the launch at the Peduase Valley Resort, Peduase, Aburi, Eastern Region, Sunday, June 18, 2023, Accra-based Hitz FM's Doreen Avio spoke to Mr Dumelo.

She asked if he was privy to the content of the book before its launch.

"Yes, I was," Dumelo responded. "I was privy to some of the things in the book so it wasn't surprising when I saw some tweets about it, you know, that this was what was going on in her life and so on and so forth."

Shrugging a little and stressing he was in the know of some of the explosive revelations of the two-day-old controversial book, the actor and politician remarked that: "I am glad that she said it."

Doreen Avio asked how Dumelo would console a sister in like shoes as Yvonne Nelson's.

"Look, I think everybody goes through tough times," he responded. "And, I think, like the saying goes it's tough people who go through tough times."

"And so it's very important to write them down and let people know," he added. "Maybe someone is going through a similar story." 

Hearing such stories, which are similar to one's, "makes you heal quicker, so you can move on quicker," Dumelo asserted.

He likened Yvonne Nelson telling her life's story to a people chronicling their culture and story through art forms including movies.

"I think it's very important for us to tell our own story," he said. "Of course through a book so that [other] people don't come and tell our story for us." 

He underscored the importance of telling one's own story so that they are not misrepresented by another.

"And so it's very encouraging what she's done," he lauded, and encouraged others to do same. 

On the timing, he remarked that Yvonne has done "much earlier" what "most people" do "when they are almost retiring from their careers and so on and so forth". 

John hinted at Yvonne putting "out more books later on" at this rate.

"I'm pretty proud of her," he concluded.

In her memoir, movie star and producer Yvonne Nelson made damning revelations about her family, the entertainment industry and her relationships therein.

Prominent among these, she said she was once pregnant for rap star Sarkodie but eventually, the pregnancy was terminated. She said she dated Nigeria's music star Iyanya but was terribly cheated on with movie star Tonto Dikeh. She said a fellow from President Akufo-Addo's inner circle, approached her with an offer to compete for the Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency seat in parliament on the ticket of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) but she declined. She also said her massively-attended 2015 Dumsor Must Stop protest resulted in threats on her life. Finally, she revealed she does not know who her real father is and the point of the book was to appeal to him to step forward.