Meet the 3 Nollywood Damsels who Dumped their Boyfriends for the Industry

So many young Nigerian girls dream of being successful actresses like Genevieve Nnaji, Kate Henshaw, Omotola Jalade Ekeinde. So you can imagine the trauma they are faced with when they finally get a shot to be on TV and out of nowhere, a boyfriend demands they quit Nollywood. Potpourri got chatting with 3 Nollywood actresses- Gold Onuwaje, Chiamaka Nwokeukwu and Peggy Onah who said they dumped their boyfriends cos they were standing in their way to success. Excerpts:

• He said girls in Nollywood don’t stay in marriages — Lizzy Gold Onuwaje 

Lizzy Gold Onuwaje isn’t new to the world of show business.  Her foray into the make-believe world started in 2006, when she won the Delta State Pageant as Miss Delta State. Then she tried her hands at the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria Pageant (MBGN) where she emerged as the second runner-up.

 

Like most of her peers who had the undying passion to get into acting, Lizzy had hers too, but it didn’t go well with her boyfriend at the time. She said:

“Initially, he was very skeptical about it. He said girls in Nollywood don’t stay in marriages. To me, it depends on individuals. I don’t think it’s true, because so far, some people like Omotola have kept their marriages. But he saw that I was very passionate about it when I went as far as attending an acting school in Lagos, so he let me be. I told him, it’s either he allowed me do my acting or he let me be. So he allowed me do my acting.” 

Lizzy was quick to add that it wasn’t really her acting that made her drop the guy, rather because he was not measuring up to her standard as a man.

“The affair didn’t crash because I went into acting. The basic truth is he doesn’t have money; so I decided to end the relationship. I dumped him in 2013 because he didn’t have much in terms of money and he didn’t have any push for my kind of man”.

•  He believed I would be snatched from him — Peggy Onah

Though not yet what you would call a popular item, Peggy has  got it going and hardly stays out of jobs. She opened up to Potpourri recently that her boyfriend almost checkered her ambition but she resolved to follow her heart and what her heart told her was “ run, run, run”.

“ I don’t know how most men perceive the world of  acting. It isn’t the way they see it. They believe anybody going into acting would be soiled by greed and wantonness. My boy friend believed I would be snatched away from him. He asked me to quit and I was just beginning to pursue my acting career. I  couldn’t quit, besides, if he really loved me, he would have stayed. I can sacrifice my career when I’ve   achieved my  dream  in the industry. But now that I’m still striving  to hit the top, I can’t sacrifice it,” she said.

• He was scared I would become wild – Chiamaka Nwokeukwu

Chiamaka said in her interview:

 “Yes I dumped him for Nollywood because he doesn’t want me to be a star. He doesn’t want me to follow up my career and he has not proposed to me. The guy can leave me tomorrow and now that I have the opportunity, I need to follow up. 

God blessed everybody with talent. It’s not easy to have talent, most people cannot act and when you have the zeal and you can do something, you have to use it well. It’s normal for a boy and girl to meet and if you really love your girl, you would let her go into what she wants. 

When I get married, automatically, if my husband says he doesn’t want me to act again, I will not act again, as long as he’s taking care of me.''

Continuing:

 “He was telling me that he doesn’t want me to act, that I’m a very nice person, I’m humble, that when I go into the industry, I’ll meet big people and I’ll become wild and be doing different things. He didn’t even want me to  start. Immediately I went for my first shoot, he said, `I think you don’t like me’. I said, I like you but let me try it first. This might be where God wants me to be”