5. Timaya – “I was Sexually Abused By The Lady Who Took Me In After My Landlord Ejected Me”
Timaya’s road to fame was turbulent and were actually captured in his two tracks- True Story and Plantain Seller.
He narrated his story in an interview:
Let me start by telling you that I have stories to tell. Stories that you never knew about or heard. Stories that will shock every listening ears.
First, I lived with a woman older than me in Port-Harcourt before I became the Timaya that you know today. I’d been singing all these while but I hadn’t made the any hit. I was writing my songs and hustling between studios. The woman accommodated me after I was thrown out by my landlord. And all through my stay, she fed me.
Of course she handed me rules and regulations. I must be in the house by 7pm and she slept with me whenever she wanted, whether I liked it or not.
And the day I say I’m tired, she’d sanction and threaten me for daring to go do with some else. These are some of the challenges I faced that most people know nothing about.
6 Genevieve-Nnaji – “I Was Offered A Supporting Role But It Was Like A Lead Role For Me”
She is like the queen of Nollywood. Famous TV talk show, Oprah referred to her as the Julia Roberts of Africa. Ms Nnaji came from a humble background too. She talked about her early beginning in an interview.
It started from her first audition- and first movie role-for Most Wanted, in 1998. Before this, her only acting experience was in popular soap opera Ripples, when she was eight years old.
“There were loads of people and I had never been to an audition,”she recalls with a smile. ” I had just finished secondary school and a fellow actor ( popularly called) Torino had seen me somewhere in Surulere and recognised me from age eight when I was in Ripples. So he invited me and I went there and there were lots of people and it was very intimidating.”
As with any professional audition, there were many reasons for her to lose a bit of confidence.
” You will meet people with better skin,” she says, “(and) better hair than you, who come from more privileged backgrounds and seem to have all the advantages.”
She might be the reigning diva now but back then, she was awed to even be in the same building with the likes of Ayo Adesanya, Regina Askia and Ibinabo Fiberesima.”
In our minds we were waiting for the lead role,” she chuckles, ” but of course, the leads had all been cast so I was offered a supporting role but it was like a lead role for me because it was a big deal to work alongside such divas like Regina Askia, Liz Benson, they were the people we looked up to then. And having to share the screen with them was huge.”
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