Uche Ogbodo is a talented Nollywood actress that says her mind the way she feels. The sexy actress married a man younger than her and she is proud of it. She speaks more in this exclusive interview with Samuel Onyekwere
Q. I read somewhere that by the month of May this year, you will be 46 years?
Waoooo. 40 what? I was born in 1986. I am 37 and by May this year, I will be 38. I don’t know what you people are always writing. Your people are funny. I don’t come out to just start saying anything. I know when I was born, it’s on my passport. I was born 17th May 1986. I have never hidden my age, I have always said it, but because I had fame very early people always assume that am 10 years older than my real age. It’s funny.
Q. You always say things the way you feel, especially on the social media and sometimes you get a lot of backlash. Do you feel troubled when people get back at you for saying things the way they are?
People are built differently. I am a strong person, so I don’t follow trends. If you follow my media journey all these while I have been in the news, I have always come out strong willed. That’s who am, so I follow my own part. I follow my own part and my fans know this. I don’t follow what the public expects me to follow or do what the public expects me to do. I do what God wants me to do.
Am not answerable to the public and I cannot because the public will bash me, say what am not meant to say.. Maybe, if I were one of the disciples of Jesus, I would have been one of the martyrs that were killed for not giving in to public pressure.
I don’t how to pretend. Just because people are going to troll you and and your family, you will now see white and call it black. I do things according to my conscience. My father instilled a lot of discipline in me and that discipline has built this strong willed woman.
I want to be a voice for other women and you don’t want to be a voice when you are lying. Your cannot be a voice when you are afraid. You cannot be a voice when you follow the band wagon. You want to be a voice and when you speak your truth, the ones who really know will know you are saying the truth. Not just say what the people want to hear. You can troll me from January to December, it doesn’t change anything about me, you don’t decide my life, I do.
Q. Because you don’t care what people say about your family, is that why you are not afraid to showcase your family on the social media?
I do care about my family and I love my family. As an entertainer, am already in the public space. My immediate family is always in the public space because as a star everything about me is in the public. My husband is a musician and an actor and he is also out there in the public space.
There is nothing to hide about me or my family, just to show you that am truthful and honest with my life. This is my life and this is who am. A lot of people are watching and learning. A lot of people like being private but am not that kind of person . I am not a private person and I don’t want to be a private person.
It’s not like my whole life is accessible, it’s not accessible in the media because you can only see what I show you. There are a lot about me you don’t see or know. And it’s not like you see people trooping in and out of my house or you see my kids everywhere..
Q. Combining motherhood and acting, let’s look at how you are coping with the challenge
It’s not been easy. Motherhood is a blessing and it depends on what one wants out of their lives. Some people want family, some don’t want family, some women want to be mothers and some don’t want to be. You do what works for your life and you will understand that at every stage of your life, if you must get to the next phase of life; you have to leave one behind. It’s always very difficult combining two tedious things; raising a family, having kids is a very tedious job and pursuing your career in entertainment is also another tedious job because in all, you have to give your all, 100 per cent.
Any time in your life you focus on one, the other one is suffering. I cannot tell you that am at the best of my career because the last couple of years, I have focused my energy on raising my family and putting things in order. So, am actually sacrificing my career to some extent. Am not completely out of the picture, am still working but am no more 100 percent as free as I used to be to pursue certain roles or get certain jobs done. At times when I get jobs at places I might have to travel I will start to consider if I will go or not go, at the end of the day; I will settle for those that are closer to me or those that will not put me at risk.
It’s not been easy.
Q. Why did you choose to marry a younger person?
I think my husband is a blessing to me because all my life, I have always liked older men. I have dated men who are older than me by 20 years. I have been engaged with a guy who is older than me by 10 years but I have never been with a younger man. I have never, my husband is actually the first and he is the most matured man I have been with in my life because am opinionated. Like I told you before, I have my own mind.
So many men don’t want to be with women like me who knows what they want. Most African men want a woman who’s a dummy, who seats around not knowing anything. It takes a secured man to be with a woman like me because I am strong, psychologically, mentally and physically, and all round. So, it takes a man who is stronger than me to be with me. And my husband is that person. He is young just by age.
When I met my husband, he is young and it doesn’t affect me because when am with him I don’t feel older. I have never for one day felt older than my husband. It’s the other way round, I feel like he is older than me. So, the age thing doesn’t come in at all and when am going overboard he calls me to order, ‘look, listen to me, when am talking’.
I have never felt am older than my husband. It’s just in the paper. He is a mature person and thinks way older than the other older people I have dated in the past. We are cool . I don’t know know why they are trolling me for my blessings because I get to have the most handsome man in the world. I have the most beautiful family. It’s funny.
Q. Take us through your first meeting with your husband?
During our first meeting I did not notice my husband. He was the one that came to me and I did not know it was going to be this serious. He came to me at a time I was no longer interested in any relationship. I was no longer interested in love, when he came to me; I was telling him, “I don’t know what you are looking for, am not interested’ but he kept going, ‘ just want to love you’ “. I said, I don’t know what love is; I don’t want love. My life now, am not ready to love anybody and I don’t want anybody to love me.
After a while, I said let me just pass time now since I don’t have any man in my life, let me be passing time and that is where we are now with two kids to show. Am very open minded about everything because you never know where you’ll find your person. I have been disappointed so many times in relationships again and again, even when I put in all my efforts to make things work it just doesn’t work and I get heart broken over and over again.
I met my husband and I did not put in any effort and I never tried to impress my husband for once. I have just been myself and things have been working just like that.
Q. In the soap opera ‘My Neighbours Wife’, you played the role of the wife of a promiscuous medium doctor who became violent and also started cheating on her hubby as well, just to get back at him. Do you think that is the best way to handle a cheating husband?
That’s a soap opera that was shot a long time ago and I can’t correctly remember everything . It’s been a while. My husband was sleeping around and I started doing same just to get back at him. Handling a cheating husband is an individual thing, it depends on how you want to handle a cheating husband because my approach might not work for you and don’t forget that it’s just a drama.
Whatever happened there was that woman’s way of getting back at her own cheating husband that’s not Uche Ogbodo. My approach will be different from the other person’s approach.
Q. You are movie a producer, how are you coping with this present economic challenges?
It has not been easy. It’s been quite discouraging. You want to do something, a small movie you used to do with ₦3m, it’s now about ₦4- ₦5m. It’s not easy and there’s no guarantee that you are going to get your money back. The economy is not helpful, things are twice the cost now to facilitate the production and you are not even sure of recouping your profit.
So, it’s quite discouraging. I wanted to produce a movie after I had my baby but I have not been gingered. All the ones I have done, I have not gotten my money back. The state of the economy is not encouraging for movie production. I don’t know how they are doing it and I have not gotten into the cinemas, no sponsors. A lot of people go to the cinemas but they don’t make anything.
Q. But do you believe those who claim they raked in ₦250m+ from cinemas, is that possible in this present Nigeria?
I don’t know how they do it but am happy that some movies can take in that amount, which means there is hope for people who can do it. It’s really frustrating and tiring. I have not gotten half of the money I invested into movie production. I don’t know how they do it but I wish some miracle can happen.
