Celebrity preacher and motivational speaker Robert Burale has opened up about his troubled past before he gave his life to Christ, revealing a dark season marked by addiction to strip clubs and pornography.
Speaking during a candid interview on the Glitch Africa Studios podcast on Friday, July 18, 2025, Burale bravely peeled back the curtain on his former life, saying his struggles stemmed from a deep sense of identity loss.
“When in the UK is where my love for strip clubs was born. I think it was a lack of identity, and if you go to a strip club and pay a few dollars, the strippers make you feel like you’re the king of Zamunda,” Burale confessed.
He said his environment and choices at the time only made matters worse.
“I had the wrong company, and along the way, I also recruited other people to that path. But along the way, I met the Lord after living an empty life,” he shared.
The preacher went on to describe how his addiction became like a drug, constantly chasing a new high, only to end up more lost than before.
“I looked for my identity there. It is like a drug; you get tired, and you look for another high. Then I went to watch pornography,” he said.
Burale said his transformation began with a personal wake-up call.
“One day, I looked at the man in the mirror, and I didn’t like what I saw. I started looking for my purpose in life and started looking at my gifts, and when I started doing that, the world started opening up to me, and here I am,” he said.
Celibate
In a previous interview in 2022, Burale also revealed that he had chosen to remain celibate since his marriage to gospel singer Rozinah Mwakideu ended in 2013.
“Sex is very important in marriage, even for us born-again believers, but it’s not everything. I have been celibate since my marriage ended in 2013. But it is God,” he said at the time.
Despite his long season of singleness, in a 2021 TV interview, Burale openly expressed his desire to remarry.
“Do I intend to get married? Yes, 1,050%. I’m a Luhya man. I don’t have the grace to be single. Keep your eyes open; keep your ears on the ground. You just never know.”
He added that marriage, for him, is a gift from God and not something he wants to miss out on again.
“Marriage is good, and it’s God’s idea. There are some things you have to enjoy in life. In heaven, we’ll just be worshipping with the 24 elders.”
Burale further revealed that his longing for companionship goes beyond emotional needs; it’s about finding someone to share the highs and lows of life with.
“After preaching the gospel, there is an emptiness you feel. You have to come back to your wife. The body is tired; you need someone to massage you and enjoy the benefits of marriage. It can be lonely,” he said.
