She was born at Dula in the western province of Équateur and attended a Roman Catholic convent school in the capital Kinshasa before embarking on a teaching career.

[2] She married President Mobutu Sese Seko in both church and civil ceremonies on 1 May 1980, on the eve of a visit by Pope John Paul II.

In 1996, a government minister who feared that he was about to be sacked in an upcoming cabinet reshuffle flew to Mobutu's palace at Gbadolite to visit the president and his family, carrying a million US dollars in his briefcase as a gift for Bobi Ladawa.

[5] In 1998, Bobi Ladawa alongside her son, Nzanga, created the "Mobutu Foundation" in hopes of helping young men and women in Africa reach their full potential.

[6] She remains in exile, and reportedly divides her time between Rabat, where Mobutu is buried, Faro (in the Algarve, Portugal), Brussels, and Paris where she owns properties.