Former Machachari actor Ian Nene alias Almasi has opened up about his troubled life in the UK where he is studying.
A few years ago, Nene was accused of being gay, mentally unstable and on drugs because of the photos he shared with his fans on social media.
Nene opened up about his trouble life while speaking during YouTube interview, revealing how he ended up smoking weed excessively and even changed religion.
The former Machachari actor said he was born and raised in a Christian family where spirituality and God were a must.
He noted that although he was a bit inquisitive about religion at some point, he didn’t get satisfactory answers.
Nene converted to Hinduism while he was in the UK where he is studying. He didn’t change religion immediately but his conversion was accelerated by his mother’s sickness.
“When I got to the university, I was wild and partying but still connecting a little bit with a weed dealer friend and I was always smoking weed and having some deep conversation and stuff,” he shared.
He further revealed that he met a monk who initiated his conversion to Hinduism.
“Randomly, he brings me a book while we are just chilling and getting high. He told me he was a monk but I didn’t understand, he told me if I read the book, I will get some realizations. He gave me the book and a bag of a guitar and I looked at the back of the bag of the guitar and I saw a picture of one of our founders, I didn’t understand it then.”
Ian’s turning point came when he returned to Kenya during holiday and discovered that his mother was suffering from cancer.
“My mum told me that the doctors said she had stage four breast cancer. I am a mama’s boy. My mum raised me single-handedly, my dad was never around my life.”
He thought his mother would die and he resorted to smoking weed excessively to keep the stress at bay.
“I started getting higher even more, I asked God why He had allowed my mum to suffer, ‘If you truly exist, why do you allow bad things to happen to good people. My mum here serves everyone and even people outside the community she helps so many people yet she is the one getting cancer’. I could not understand.”
Nene said the decision to convert to Hinduism came when he saw a photo of a Hindu lady who had some marks on her face.
“I was scrolling on Facebook and I saw a picture of a lady who had some marks on her face and she looked peaceful and her picture was posted by one of my old friends.”
After seeing the photo, he went to a temple in Nairobi where his deep questions about the universe were answered.
“I was invited to a temple and I started learning and they were answering all my questions deeply and scientifically and how God is maneuvering this world and a lot of technical questions.”
When he returned to the UK, the former Machachari actor fully embraced Hinduism and started visiting the temple regularly.
“I became a vegetarian immediately and when I went back to the UK, I met monks and they took me to a temple, where I spent most of the times, especially during holidays, and dedicated even more cohesive time to it after am done with school.”
Related: Machachari Actress Stella Comes Clean On Slamming Former Costar Almasi For Being Gay
