Actress and television icon Nana Ama McBrown has opened up about a deeply personal chapter of her life—dropping out of secondary school due to unpaid fees and the emotional toll it took on her.
In a candid conversation on TV3’s New Day with Berla Mundi, McBrown revealed that her formal education ended before she could complete her first year of secondary school.
“I started at Prince of Peace Girls Secondary, but I couldn’t finish Form 1,” she shared. “I didn’t pay my school fees, and I was so embarrassed. I just felt like, ‘This is not me. Let me step out.’”
McBrown’s voice carried both strength and vulnerability as she recalled how classmates would look at her whenever a teacher entered the room. “Everybody would turn and look at me because they knew I was going home,” she said. “At that time, we were young, so we couldn’t see that things would eventually get better. I just felt like it was a disgrace.”
Despite the setback, the United Showbiz host refused to let the shame define her. She later enrolled in the College of Business Studies—primarily to save face—even though she admitted that deep down, she knew the certificate wouldn’t significantly impact her career.
“I enrolled in the College of Business Studies, Berla, knowing that I would not need that certificate for anything,” she confessed. “But people kept asking the question—‘Why are you not in school?’—and I felt embarrassed.”