For the first time since his ex-wife Daniella Atim came out with detailed accounts of the trauma she endured during her marriage with Jose Chameleone, the singer has confirmed he finally consented to legally end their nine-year marriage.
The music star admitted that Daniella indeed endured a lot by putting up with a celebrity like him.
“I finally conceded to signing the divorce papers. You know why? Everything that has a beginning has an end,” the multi-award winning singer told NBS TV in an interview on Monday.
“I thank Mama Abba for the 5 beautiful children she gave me. Very intelligent, very good looking. Plus, the time she accorded me. It’s time that we each move on to our next chapter. Falling in love with a celebrity is not easy. If she managed to endure that up until the time she felt she couldn’t take it any longer, I want to thank her,” he added.
In the wake of Daniella’s harrowing revelations about domestic violence via her Instagram posts back in 2024, the public leveled criticism against the controversial singer with many arguing Daniella deserved better. He now says it is understandable that he and not Daniella was the subject of rebuke, considering he is the one in the limelight.
“I don’t usually keep silent, but when it came to this matter, I realized marital affairs are not solved on the internet. It’s not a battle you win with words. That aside, she is the mother of my children, whether we are on good terms or not.”
According to the Jamila singer, men cannot go about their issues the same way women go about theirs. He had to teach his children that men speak the language of silence. “Secondly, I wouldn’t want to say anything I would regret later in the future. It’s not that I didn’t have stuff to say. I chose to respect her and to respect my children.”
This is counsel he received from his father, Gerald Mayanja, he says.
Some of the lows that have characterized the singer’s marital life are dotted in his body of music. On Valu Valu the 2012 song for example, he reassures Daniella that he is serious, committed, and not interested in “valu valu”(Kiswahili for confusion, drama, or instability). He is asking for a genuine, faithful relationship and expressing frustration when love feels unreliable or when he is doubted.
Long before the singer’s marriage hit rock bottom, forcing Daniella and the kids to relocate to the U.S., the couple’s relationship had already been testet by emotional distance.
“I used to live like I was not married. She once told me ‘Joseph, you didn’t marry me so I can stay home alone. If you don’t want to come back home, tell me so I can go back to my parents’. One day I came back home at 9am and slept. When I woke up, she was sitting by the bedside just crying. I felt guilty. So, when I wrote Valu Valu, I was singing what I thought she was feeling,” Chameleone said in an interview during a visit to Kigali last year.
Fatherhood
In the wake of Chameleone’s medical troubles that saw him evacuated to the U.S. for treatment in 2024 after suffering acute pancreatitis (a condition that causes inflammation of the pancreas, an organ crucial for digestion and blood sugar regulation), he became a target of condemnation from his elder son, Abba Macus Mayanja. Chameleone’s condition had been worsened by his abuse of alcohol, excessive smoking, poor eating patterns and inadequate rest.
Abba took to TikTok to address his father’s predicament, which he said was in part enabled by his grandparents (the singer’s parents), Chameleone’s friends and industry players that continued to book him for shows even in his poor health. Some also read the plea as a veiled portrayal of his father as irresponsible.
“My father struggles with alcohol addiction… Something he’s been grappling with for quite some time. We need to work together to get my father the help that he needs,” Marcus, then 18, revealed.
“I want to bring out the truth about the people who care about my father, all his fans and supporters I want you to know that if my father continues with this pattern according to the doctors he has two years left and this is what hurts me,” he added.
The message stirred mixed sentiments, on one side conservative Ugandans condemning Abba for his lack of respect. They were quick to attribute his behavior to poor upbringing from his mom whom they argued is raising the children using America’s liberal approach that often opts for the carrot rather than the stick.
Today, the behavioral pattern that has characterized Abba’s recent Instagram videos of him smoking, can be seen as vindicating the same conservatives that sided with Chameleone then. Others read Abba’s uncouth character as parroting what he has grown up seeing his father do.
The 20-year-old has recently made headlines in Uganda owing to leaked nude videos of him and the girlfriend. It also turned out the two are expecting a child together this year.
On the issue of Abba being a father, Chameleone said: “I was happy about the fact that he’s going to be a father” but was quick to add that regarding the nude videos; “I do not consider myself a failed father. The children live with their mom in the U.S. As a father, I do my part, I call and speak with them. What I regret is being a distant father.”
Nevertheless, Chameleone (47) praises Abba for leading his young siblings and playing a father role.
“This world doesn’t reward reserved people. People will walk over you. You have to be loud in character. I’m not saying be unruly, but your vibration has to be felt,” he said in the interview, as if cheering his son for what seems like early signs that he (Abba) could potentially immortalize the singer.
Together, Daniella and Chameleone have five children following a glamorous wedding in 2008. Seven years into their marriage, Daniella reportedly moved out of the singer’s house and was gone for four months, according to Chameleone’s own account.
She later in 2017 filed for divorce citing physical assault resulting from Chameleone’s alcoholism.
Until May 2024 when Daniella pealed into the inner layers of their past, the two had managed to keep the issue of their separation under wraps for many years. While Daniella had ditched her wedding ring, Chameleone still wore it.
The single mother of 5 – Abba (20), Alfa (17), Alba (14), Amma (13) and Xara (8) – called out Chameleone’s family for doing little to tame the violent tendencies exhibited by the Mayanja brothers – especially Chameleone and Weasel.
“I moved to the U.S. exactly 5 years ago and sought asylum from many things including domestic violence that I endured for 16 years,” Daniella wrote in a post two years ago.
“Even though the age I am turning this year sounds too serious, I am choosing to live my early life while healing my nervous system,” said the mother who turns 41 this year.
It wasn’t the first time she was hinting at her willingness to pursue love again. In 2023, she wrote a letter to self in which she wished love would be kinder to her.
“Dear Daniella, when love visits you again I hope it doesn’t expect you to suffer, that it doesn’t try to deceive you into thinking you have to go through trials and tribulations to be found worthy,” the letter read in part.
“I hope it doesn’t come in form of a litmus paper, putting you through ridiculous tests. I hope you give it a warm welcome, letting go of all the pain and the hurt from the past, in order to make room for it.”
Filing for divorce
Daniella filed for divorce in April 2017 after what she said were years of cruelty and repeated domestic violence. At the heart of the singer’s record of violence is impatience and a short temper, both traits being at extreme levels. This is according to Daniella.
In the divorce suit filed before Nakawa Court, her lawyers wrote; “The respondent (Chameleone) has resorted to binge drinking and on each occasion he comes back home, beats up the petitioner (Daniella) without any cause or valid reason.”
In the same application, Daniella shared the ordeal she had endured, revealing she had sustained wounds and scars on her face which she constantly had to cover. The wounds were as a result of violence occasioned by her husband, she told court.
The court application went as far as stating that because of the constant beating, Daniella “cannot even sleep at night worrying that the respondent may kill her”.
ALSO READ: “I’m raising my 5 kids on my own” – Daniella finally lifts lid on divorcing Chameleone
The then 33-year-old who was brought up under a strong religious orientation, having been raised by deceased Italian missionary, Rev. Father John Scalabrini, said Chameleone disrespected her and demeaned her before their children.
The singer was quick to deny claims in a Facebook live broadcast. He said he would not sign the divorce papers as he still loved her very much.
A year later, after efforts to resolve the conflict hit a snag, the singer announced the two had separated. Even then, he never signed the divorce papers.
“I let you be Daniella. God bless you always. I can’t prove myself more than I have,” Chameleone wrote in a post in September of 2018.
One of Uganda’s iconic singers, Chameleone’s pattern of violence extends beyond the walls of his household. Over the course of his music career, he has come under intense scrutiny for his violent behavior.
Chameleone is only the latest in a list of celebrities who have had to pay the arduous currency – sacrifice – in exchange for stardom. As a trade off for accolades, wealth, records and achievement, numerous celebrities have been confronted with loneliness, broken families, exploitation by management, addiction, depression and a ruined reputation.
