Pregnancy rumour: Stephanie Okereke finally speaks

 

One year after her well celebrated fairytale wedding inside a 16^th century castle in Paris, France, tongues are already wagging that star actress and one of the most famous faces in Nollywood, Stephanie Okereke is pregnant and expecting a new baby with hubby, Linus.

The reason for this trending but unconfirmed story is not far-fetched because after marriage comes childbirth.

Many of her fans and even colleagues believed that having been happily married for over a year, April 21, 2012, to be precise, by now, patters of tiny feet would have been part of her household.

Interestingly, Mrs. Idahosa’s pregnancy rumour was further amplified by ubiquitous bloggers who graciously feasted on the story via their various online platforms in a bid to outdo one another.

Surprisingly, in the midst of all the noise and controversies surrounding her pregnancy, the chiseled beauty from Imo State, blatantly refused to be dragged into the raging issue.

And after several weeks of deliberate and well calculated silence, which also left many of her teeming fans and even colleagues dumbfounded, the leggy thespian finally opened up to Entertainment Express in an exclusive chat.

“Please, why is the unconfirmed news of me being pregnant generating so much news within and outside Nollywood?” She asked in her usual calm voice, when EE sought her reaction.

“These people writing on the Internet that I’m pregnant and expectant, are they my doctor or husband? Where and when did I discuss being pregnant with them. They should come out and tell me because I need to know,” she says.

Not done yet, the actress who holds the MFR national honour unapologetically reminded those spreading the “unconfirmed rumours” of her pregnancy that she owes nobody any explanation whether pregnant or not.

“The world over, when celebs are pregnant, they announce such news through their publicists by making it official. When I was getting married in 2012, my husband and I announced it to the world and even released the pictures to the public after the wedding. So, if I become pregnant tomorrow, definitely Azuh, you and your paper will be among the first to know about it, because being pregnant is good news. What I do not like is people writing lies and falsehood all in the name of driving traffic to their sites.”

Are you truly pregnant or not? We asked again with emphasis: “No, I’m not. Like I said earlier, if I’m pregnant, you would be the first to know,” she answers with a smile.

EE tried finding out if the sixth child in a family of eight was under pressure both internal and external to conceive like some of her famous colleagues in Tinsel town, who are equally married and are now proud mums.

In a voice that was calmer and devoid of pretence, she said no and assured us that her pregnancy would definitely come at the right time.

“How can I be under pressure to conceive? No, I’m not under any form of pressure to conceive. I just returned from Malta with my husband. It was a well deserved holiday and sightseeing. And we had fun,” she discloses.

On what Mrs. Idahosa is currently occupying herself with now that she has not start making babies with Linus, boss of Delyork International, the English and Literary Studies graduate of the University of Calabar hinted she’d completed work on her most recent movie-Dry.

“Dry is a movie that is aimed at creating awareness on VVF, early marriages and maternal issues. Again, you know as a woman when you see a lot of injustice done to women and also live in a society where women are not being properly cared for, it hurts. It’s also worrisome and also looking at the fact that our health care system is just horrible, the rate of maternal mortality is increasing by the day. The issue of early marriages, where young girls are given out in marriages against their wish at a very tender age is bad. These are children, even if you have decided who their husbands are, at least allow them get the basic education, so that they can know how to take care of themselves and even be able to run the family, and be able to cater for themselves. Also, checking the health care system in Nigeria, look at the women that don’t have access to quality health care education, you will see them suffering from different kinds of diseases, especially VVF. All these are my reasons for coming to help fight the war against VVF in our society using the medium of film and entertainment with my last movie-Dry. We are already planning for the world premiere.