Tonto Dikeh sat down with Chude Jideonwo for the latest episode of “#WithChude”; and discussed her acting career, past relationships, losing her stepmother, the relationship she has with God, and her desire to be taken seriously in the political space.
On what caused her fight with God:
I don̢۪t want to say God let me down. The love I have for God has never gone; I still pray to him every day, but I just took a step back. I said you know what God? if you̢۪re gonna raise stones, raise them. I just got to that point in my life that I just trusted him so much for certain things not to happen, and they did. And you keep wondering, is there really a God? Is my faith real? I mean, am I doing this well?
God is not tired of me though; he̢۪s not tired of me, that I know. I don̢۪t know how to put in words, but it̢۪s deeper than I̢۪m saying, yeah, it̢۪s deeper.
On how she started her career in Nollywood:
I was told, ‘We have this audition upstairs come and take it’ and that’s how it went. I never bought a form, I never filled a form, never did anything. I went for the audition, they asked me to act as though I were crying, and that was the first time I ever attempted acting. Immediately they said it, I just started to cry and they asked me to clean my eyes. Then, they were like come, we need you!
If you know Port Harcourt people in those days, we were not big on entertainment. Every 17-year-old girl had fleets of land, properties, and a 20-year-old girl has an oil well. We were more or less oil-inclined, so we were not about entertainment, although we knew entertainers and we̢۪ve seen movies. But it was not my thing.
I just felt like it was an opportunity, and I took it; I just took it one day at a time I knew where it was going to, never knew where it was leading to, it just happened. It was not something I planned, and I was opportune to be in that business, like I said, I̢۪ve done that, it was a channel for me to climb the ladder and that̢۪s what it is.
On losing her step mum:
She was the only mom I ever knew; She was the only woman involved in my life, she was the only one who supported me when I left home for entertainment, she̢۪s the only one who has ever prayed for me as a mother. She̢۪s the only one who has blessed me as a mother, fed me as a mother, and clothed me as a mother.
The closest I̢۪ve got to love from motherhood was from her, and she gave everything. She gave us more than what she had; she was the best woman on earth. Because of her, sometimes I say, thank God I never knew my mum, because maybe she wouldn̢۪t have been as good as this. She was everything a mother should be and more.
To watch the full interview; subscribe to watch.withchude.com to watch the video version or listen.withchude.com to listen to the extended play podcast.
