Being Married Has Helped Me In So Many Ways - Omoni Oboli

Nigerian actress, Omoni Oboli, says that contrary to usual beliefs
that ladies are asked for sex for roles in Nollywood, she had never
been approached with such demands.

She said this on Rubbin Minds on Channels Television, in response to a
question on whether being married has limited her roles in the
industry.

"I'm not sure if it has. I think it has probably helped in so many
ways because I hear a lot of girls say 'some guy is asking me to sleep
with them for a role or whatever'; I don't get that.

"I don't know if its because I'm married or the fact that they just
respect me, but I really don't get that. I am thinking perhaps in a
good way that has helped me. They know not to bring it up."

She would not deny the existence of the issue in the industry but
noted that she had never really seen people own up to it.

She, however, noted that sexual harassment is not peculiar to the
movie industry as "doctors want to sleep with nurses everyday", an
indication that almost every industry has the same challenge.

The media has been seen to be responsible for blowing up controversies
around the issue of sexual harassment in Nollywood and she noted that
this was because people involved are in the limelight.

On how her husband handles all of these, she said; "He's fine. He is
what I call a modern day man. He understands that this is my job, this
is what I do and you've got to take the good and the bad."

Omoni also spoke about the challenges in the Nigerian movie industry,
admitting that indeed the standards could be better especially in
scripts and production quality.

Citing the usual complaints about the sound quality of their movies,
she highlighted the situation whereby they have had to shoot with
power generators for most productions as one of the major factors
responsible for this.

Omoni Oboli also denied rumours that she had "beef" with fellow
actress, Genevieve Nnaji. She explained how the controversy started
off an interview granted by a movie director she had worked with and
who decided to proclaim her as the best in Nigeria based on their
working relationship.

She put the blame for the rumours on the tabloids, as she had no idea
how the media created an assumption that there was competition and
started the comparison of the two actresses.

Omoni once had her close shave with a scandal when she was spotted at
an event - a presidential screening of a movie - with a dress
considered to have shown a lot of skin.

This generated massive media backlash as many considered the
appearance to have contradicted her usual homely image.

She noted that she bought the dress in company of her husband while on
holiday abroad and they both did not find anything wrong about it but
the outfit was exaggerated by the angle from which the photograph
which circulated in the media was taken.

She admitted that if she knew how much controversies her innocent
decision to look good for a red carpet event would have caused she
might not have worn the dress. Although she also registered her
suspicion that the "so much talk" was fanned by certain people who had
sinister motives against her.

Her current movie, Being Mrs Eliot, has been in the cinema and she
wants all Nigerians to go to the cinemas to see the movie and help
develop the industry with their comments and patronage.

Omoni Oboli, who studied Foreign Languages and speaks fluent French,
also revealed that she has an ongoing project with the French Embassy
in Nigeria to produce a bilingual movie.