The widow of reggae legend Bob Marley refused to chastise him over his continual infidelity - because the mistresses took some of the pressure off her at home.

RITA MARLEY says she rarely kicked up a fuss when her EXODUS singer husband impregnated other women, as it gave her time to develop her career as a performer alongside him.

And Rita - who lost her husband to cancer in 1981 - says she would have been perpetually pregnant if Bob had had his way.

She recalls, "Bob wanted me to have a baby each year, but he also wanted me to continue being a back-up singer in his band and to go on the road with him.

"So what that he had children with other women? He was always truthful, he always told me when another child was on the way.

"He would even bring the babies to me when they were born, and sometimes I would even bring them up myself."

Marley went on to have eight children with other women, and four with his wife.

30/03/2004 21:50