In a society where monogamy remains the norm, three Nigerians in a throuple relationship give PREMIUM TIMES a sneak peek into their unusual marriage.
A throuple is a romantic relationship involving three people.
In Nigeria, Chidinma, Jeffrey and Precious, popularly known online as the “Feral Throuple,” appear to be among the country’s most visible throuples, attracting significant attention across social media.
According to them, Jeffrey was initially married to Chidinma before he met and introduced Precious into the relationship. Together, they now live as partners in a loving, emotionally secure union.
In an interview with PREMIUM TIMES, they spoke about jealousy, intimacy, trust and navigating an unconventional relationship in a conservative society.
Excepts:
PT: How long have you been married?
Feral Throuple: We’ve been married for five years (Chidinma and Jeffrey) and have been together for nine years in total. Precious has been with us for one year, but we’ve been together for eight years, just a one-year break in between. However, in terms of fully understanding, it has been about a year.
PT: Throuples are uncommon in Nigeria. What are some of the challenges you grapple with every day?
Feral Throuple: In society, we don’t consider anything a challenge, but individually, some of our families definitely would have a hard time coming around the concept. So that would be the only personal challenge. But regarding society, we are really confident in what we have. So we don’t really have any issues with society generally.
PT: What do you all love most about being in a throuple, and what do you dislike about it?
Feral Throuple: Things we love. It’s like a community. It’s more interesting than just a regular couple. We have more fun together. If you think about it from the financial aspect, there’s also more income. There are more ideas. It’s literally an empire together. It’s a company as well. We’re building together.
Things we dislike, and we are not sure because no human is perfect. You would have some things you don’t like about your spouse. But it’s different from the idea of being a throuple. We all like everything about the idea of being a throuple. It’s just that, individually, each person might have something they don’t like about the other.
PT: What religion do you practise?
Feral Throuple: We are not religious. We all have a Christian background. We were raised in a Christian home, but right now we don’t consider ourselves religious.
PT: Do you attend church together as a throuple?
Feral Throuple: We practice spirituality, that’s all. We still attend church, not every Sunday, but we do attend. But attending church doesn’t make us religious.
PT: We saw in one of your videos that you attended a club together. How does that work? In clubs, people dance with others, so do you only dance among yourselves, or do you allow other people to dance with your partner?
Feral Throuple: Other women are allowed to dance with us. It’s just the same way in the club. Some women dance with their female friends. But the boundary is when it’s a man; a man is not allowed. For the same reason, men don’t allow their wives to dance with other men. It’s just as simple as that.
PT: Are you intentionally choosing not to have children yet? If you decide to have children, would it be in turns? For example, would Chidinma have a child first and then Precious later, or would you consider surrogacy?
Feral Throuple: We are open to all these possibilities. We don’t have set rules regarding children. We believe that when the time is right, they will come. And if we don’t ever feel all together at that point, we are okay not having children. There are no set rules exactly for all of us right now. And whatever we decide to change our minds to, it has to be something that we all collectively want.
We have faced this pressure for the longest, Chidinma and I especially. And it hasn’t changed anything about our decision. So I think the pressure has already subsided, at least for now. They’ve left us choices after all this time.
PT: Have you ever broken up, or has your relationship ever been threatened? If yes, what caused it?
Feral Throuple: For Chidinma and Jeffrey, it was quite rocky at first. The beginning of our relationship wasn’t always smooth. We didn’t really break up; it never lasted more than two days. We didn’t understand each other, but we never split. We were together for years until we started to understand each other better.
For Jeffrey and Precious, there were some on-and-offs, and we did break up once before we came back together. So it wasn’t always smooth for each of us, the choice to be together. But after the whole rollercoaster, we decided, and we were able to see clearly for ourselves that we were meant to be together.
PT: What do all of you do for a living?
Feral Throuple: We all collectively work together. Chidinma and Jeffrey were drop-shippers from China to Australia, in the fashion industry. In recent times, we are going heavy on content creation. So that’s also something on the side. And Precious is also an influencer for fashion brands. And she’s a content creator, too.
We don’t have a joint account. We have a company, but we all earn differently at different times. But we all operate the finances collectively. So there’s transparency in every one of our earnings.
PT: How do you handle money?
Feral Throuple: Literally, the way we live. Just as a monogamous relationship in the church is, you have the head of the house. Jeffrey mostly handles the household finances. It’s with the collective consent of everyone that we decide how to spend every penny. So we all make contributions and control together the same time.
