STAR ACTRESS, MERCY JOHNSON: “I DON’T LET GOSSIP DISTRACT ME”!

Nollywood diva, Mercy Johnson is one of the most successful actresses in the movie industry today. From practically nothing, Mercy built herself into something. Today, she has become a big brand in the movie industry. Somewhere along the line in the course of her career she lost her privacy and everything she did became big news. Because of her life as a super actress, her life had become an open story book. How did she take that aspect of her life? Did it ever bother her that like the golden fish she no longer has a hiding place. Whether it was true or false, everything she did hit the frontpage of celebrity magazines.

How did all these make her feel? “Well you have got to live with it. It is part of the price you pay for success and becoming a celeb. It happens to everybody. Everything about you suddenly becomes news.  Nothing is private. Even issues that you really wouldn’t want to share and the most hurtful is that you can’t come out to really set the picture straight. So, people are actually going to believe what they want to believe. Certain things happen to you that happen to other girls your age, or even older than you. Certain people make mistakes that you make, even much more, but yours is like celebrated and people are really excited to hear it because it’s bad news that affected you.

“So, it’s hard to live your public life at any point in time. It’s also hard for me, even till now. It’s like at first, when it comes, you are enjoying it and you are smiling and at a point you get frustrated that even when people stare at you, sometimes you feel worried, because you don’t really know why they are staring, whether it is for the right reasons or for the wrong reasons. Because as a growing girl and as an artiste you make certain errors, some which you get to certain points in life and you are like, did I really do that? And you get to a point where even when you are a changed person, some people can’t stop seeing you with the eyes of your past. So, it’s hard to have your private life taken away from you and people judge you at every point in time”.

How did she build Mercy Johnson into the big brand it is today? “Success is hard. It’s never easy. It takes more than luck to make the right decisions, and the right choices. A lot of people have actually been acting before me, but they are just no where close. It’s not because I am better, it’s grace.  But really, success is hard. It takes a lot of hardwork. At the point when my mates were carrying designer bags, I didn’t know what designer bags were. At the point at which they were wearing Brazilian Hair, I didn’t know what Brazilian Hair was.

“I was kind of laidback. I was a step behind or 2 steps behind because I was working so hard. I didn’t take vacations. I didn’t have time for all of that. I just wanted to be on location. So I could sell what I had. I wanted people to see what I could do. So every point in time I was busy. I was so excited to work at every time. So, it’s like success is hard. You really have to work hard. You really have to sweat to achieve what you want. It’s only when you set to achieve it that’s when it last. I was telling my friend Joy recently. I said to her, I hear people complaining a lot about me. But I have seldomly never heard anybody say she is a terrible actress. They can say I am not her fan, so I don’t like her. So, it’s about hard work. That is the only thing that brings success”.

On her way to the top, how come she was focused all through and was never distracted in an industry where there is so much distraction. “Haaa! I couldn’t have been distracted. For several reasons. One, because I grew up knowing what Tears and Hunger mean. One of my biggest phobias was failure. I had a phobia for it. And I didn’t grow up in an environment that was very sociable, I didn’t have friends. Since I got into the industry I can say I am one person that you can hardly meet in a club house or at party. Even events, it’s really hard to see me there because that’s just not me. I believe it when they say life is like a camera when you focus on it, that is when you get the best pictures out. I think I was focusing too much on what I wanted and there was nothing strong enough to distract me basically. I was just scared of going back to where I was coming from. I didn’t forget where I was coming from. It was like paramount. I kept seeing the picture. So, when I discovered that this way will make it better, nothing can push me out. I am just going to face that way”.

How come she didn’t get distracted by all the side talks, gossips from colleagues, friends? “Oh, no way. Talks. No way. That can’t distract me”, she says matter of factly. “Because people will keep criticising when they want exactly what you have. They hate and they talk, but they want what you have. They crave to have what you have. So when they talk, the only way to shut them up is to even do better and up your game. The criticisms you get mostly are not constructive. They are just bitter. When you see the one that is just bitter you know”. How was she able to lift herself high above all that? “It’s easy. We are in an environment where people who have boils all over their faces will look at me that has just 1 pimple on my cheek and try to tell me what cream to use. People hide in the shadow and say stuff.

“So, you just know it’s not constructive. It’s just somebody somewhere trying to make me feel bad to bring me down. I had gone through all of that, growing up, I had cried all the tears I need to cry growing up. Nobody can make me go back now. So it’s like hate all you want, I am moving. So you are just going to stay there and keep talking and I am ahead of you. It’s more or less like you know me, I don’t know you. If talking about me makes you feel better or puts food on your table, it will be wicked of me taking it away from you. So, I just let go.”

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About Unknown

Deji Sadiq, a.k.a DEJI OF LAGOS is a LASU trained Economist turned freelance journalist, a Blogger, an information strategist, a public affairs analyst and a committed activist with a passion for equal opportunities.