Omotola Jalade finally reveals how her mum nearly killed her acting career

Omosexy

Nollywood star actress and mother of four, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde  recently sat down to share the story of her life with CNN African Voices. Below are some high points of the chat exclusively monitored by us  for your reading delight.
 

Can you describe your relationship with your parents?
I was really close to my dad, and my mum didn’t like that. As a disciplinarian, my mum didn’t like it because she thought my Dad was spoiling me and wasn’t allowing her to give me the type of training she would have wanted me to have.

How easy was it to step into the role of paternal figure to your younger ones?
It was tough because in Africa when you lose your dad at such an early stage, a lot of things go wrong. My mum wasn’t prepared for it when it happened. The struggle was intense, we had a certain lifestyle before my dad died and we had to ask our selves if anybody could help us maintain that lifestyle. She had all these decisions to make and I had to decide to step up to help her. I was barely in my teen and immediately had to become an adult. My mum became the dad because she had to go out and fend for the family and I had to become a mother. So at 12 and 13, I was already a mother taking care of my siblings.

You were a model at that young age, how easy did you come about that?
I started working as a model at the age of 15 just to help her. There was this gentleman on my street, his name is Oniave Akerele; he was like a ‘supermodel’ back in the day. We all loved him because he was very tall and handsome; he was like the local star. His mum was very close to my mum and my mum was always complaining about me to her. She felt I was becoming loose. A lot of people tell her things as a widow, something like ‘you can’t take care of your children alone’ and all that. I was a woman at full blossom and was getting the attentions of boys and men around. So she thought I was going to become loose. She kept complaining to all her friends and kept telling them, ‘please keep an eye on my daughter Omotola’; ‘if you see her anywhere, please let me know’. So this guy got to know and asked my mum, you are always complaining about this lady, how about if I put her to work. If she is working with me, I can keep my eyes on her and
make her stay out of trouble. My mum was worried because I was always at home idle and she was always at work and she didn’t know what I was doing. So I started modeling with him and I grew up quickly.

Please share your journey into movie industry with us.
As a model, I went for a movie auditioning. I didn’t go there for myself, I escorted my friend. She went inside and did her auditioning, but she didn’t get the part so she came out very upset. She came out and said you know you can actually go inside and try. I said, I don’t have any money and she said no, go in it is free. I went inside, and tried and got one of the lead roles. We had to wait after the auditions and it was those kinds of auditions they will come out and tell you if you were successful or not. They came out and said right there that I got the role. I got one of the lead roles and we were all stunned. I looked at my friend and she was really upset.
I went to the director and told her my mum was not going to allow me to act and he was so upset and he said, I will have to come speak to your mum about you, If you wouldn’t mind. He came and my mum chased him with brooms. He tried again and then the next movie he was doing which was Venom of Justice, then the whole crew went and begged my mum. It was very funny. She eventually said yes.

How does losing your father at a young age have to do with all these?
When I lost my father, I was still in school, and I was a kid. For many years, I realized that I didn’t really grieve. I had a lot of anger and question so when I started acting, it was like a release for me. To get into character, I had to become someone else. Ironically, every role I got in the beginning of my career was really intense. Now I can channel it in a more controlled way. I am now more in control of it than before.

Who came up with the name Omosexy?
My husband actually came up with the name Omosexy. That is my husband’s pet name for me and my fans loved it. Now they call me Omosexy more than they call me Omotola.

So how easy was it to venture into production of Omotola The Real Me?
It was very difficult to do that, because I have always been a private person. I go to work and back home. Many people didn’t really know what I do in my real life. When the producers told me that they would be following me round, I was skeptical about it. It was more than a year of talking. And the more they talked, the more I was less skeptical. As time went on, I decided to ease in on it until I agreed. I asked if I could pull the plug anytime, they said yes. But of course I can’t pull the plug. It was fun while it lasted, I don’t know yet if I would love to do season two. We will have to keep our fingers crossed because now, they want to see more of my children and my kids are teenagers and I am very scared. I am an entertainer, my husband is a pilot, so he is used to meeting people as well. So for both of us, we could handle it. I only showed my kids once in a single episode and now everybody now feels like they know them and call them by name
and that freaks me out. I am scared how they will react to it. Are they going to be celebrities too, are they going to still be disciplined? I don’t know how they are going to react to it. I can work it out, but for the kids I don’t know how it is going to translate. We are still thinking and talking.

The world is seeing Omotola, the activist, you want to tell us how it evolved?
From activism I started music. I wanted to speak out, I wanted to say more and there are so much more you can just let out with words. When I first started working with the youths, I worked with the UN and I started going to different countries and I saw so much. I wanted to sing about it, I have always wanted to sing anyway, but that was the motivation I needed. I tell a lot of people that there is a huge difference between being an activist and being a humanitarian. Activism is about teaching and explaining to you how to take your rights. However, with the UN campaign I liked the fact that I was working with the countries that had gone through wars. So it wasn’t too much of them not knowing their rights rather, they just needed things urgently. Food is an essential human right. It is very sad that the oil spills around the world is not even half of what is happening in the Niger Delta, yet the other parts of the world have spoken about it and everybody knows
about it. But you need to go to the Niger Delta to see what is going on there. Why is there so much silence? Why is no one helping these people? If you go there today, most of the locals do not have jobs. Most of the men are just fishermen and most of the women work in the fields and the world is silent. I shot a movie recently about the Niger Delta situation and it is called Up Creek. When I was shooting that movie I went round myself to see for myself what was really going on and I understood why these people are really angry. I don’t live there, yet I am truly very angry.

Almost 300 movies to your credit, how has it been?
We have come a long way; things have changed both for better and for worse. We loved what we were doing; we were totally immersed in it. We went for auditions for months. It was the beginning of Nollywood and we got into the era when you will be called to do a movie one day and you will be given the script that day. We weren’t putting so much professionalism as we should have done and things were quicker. We will go on set and the movies will be ready in one week. The turnarounds were quicker, things were not professional and we went through that time. Though some of these things still happen now but then the beauty is that there is something called the new Nollywood. Some of us like veteran producers and actors have come around and said you know what; this is not going to continue. We are not going to go back to how it was, we are going to better it. Now we have more money, bigger budgets so these movies are expected to go to the cinemas. So we put
in more time, more energy. We don’t do just video movies anymore, we do cinema movies now. Now you have enough time to immerse yourself in a character and get into it and the joy of getting into production for a film is now coming back.

We hear you have project for a film village?
I realized that I have to leave something. We need infrastructure in Nollywood. We have the fans, we have the figures, but we don’t have infrastructure, we don’t have anything solid on ground. The cinemas are coming back and we need studios, film villages, we need schools and that is what I am doing right now.

Do you think about an opportunity to break into Hollywood from Nollywood?
How can I not think about that? Everyone wants to get to the peak of their careers. For acting, movies and filmmaking, Hollywood is still the pinnacle of it all. I’ve shot twice now in Hollywood and it is pulling me and it is something I would love. But I feel that I am more needed in Africa and in Nollywood. Do I want to collaborate and shoot in Hollywood? Yes.

How important is it that you will have to maintain your roots to be here?
It is very important to me; we are growing something here. Nollywood right now is the third largest industry in the world and we are just 20 years. That says something; we might not be the best, our films could be better but we have the spirit and the will power. We want to achieve something and we are saying we don’t believe we can do it by ourselves. We want to be open and meet with people to collaborate, but we don’t want to throw it away. How about you come here and help us, how can you come here and shoot. How about you come here to shoot rather than using your film village to depict Africa; it would be good for you; at least you and your crew can visit Africa. We have the figures; we have well over 150 Million people in Nigeria. Come and work with us. We will be glad to have you, but invest in us and you will be glad you did. Africa is the new market, Africa is the destination now. If you don’t know, now you know.

What did the Time 100 Most Influential People in the world mean to you?
It means everything; it is amazing. It was a very wonderful season and it is a very special thing. I love the African spirit that is why I do what I do. Because I see so much potentials in Africa and its people; so for Time Magazine to have seen all that I do, I wasn’t in the artistes category, I was in the icons category. I think that is what gives me more satisfaction, that I was recognized as an icon and not just as an actress, I am very grateful for that.

What do you think your parents would have said if they see what you have achieved today?
My mum saw a little bit of it but not much. I think just well done and maybe wow especially from my mum. My dad had always believed in me, he wouldn’t have been too surprised because he always said I had a fearless and feisty spirit. But for my mum, she never believed in me, so she would have just been wowed.

Do you believe your mum never believed in you?
I do so; I think she just felt it was almost impossible for me to tame her. I was quite a rebel. But now I know she will be proud.

By FEMI SALAWU-ENTERTAINMENT EXPRESS