Popular Nigerian actress and filmmaker, Mercy Aigbe Adeoti has opened up on how she almost left the movie industry over s3xual har@$$m3nt.
The movie star spoke in an interview with ‘Your View’, a talk show on TVC.
She said a producer made passes at her after a movie audition despite earning the role for the upcoming film.
Mercy added that though she had other challenges in the industry, she made her way to the top through consistency.
She said: “I once met a producer in Surulere, and I expressed to him how much I would love to act. He told me he had an upcoming film, and invited me to his office for an audition. I passed three stages of the audition.
After the last audition, I was given a minor role. I told him that was not the character I was auditioning for, and he replied that the director said he did not know me, and that was why he said I should be close to him (the producer).”
“He had been making passes at me before then, but he did not come out clean to me until that day.
He then stood up and tried to touch me. I was very upset, and I told him he could not do that to me, because I had earned the role.
That was a huge insult to my person, and I thought if that was what it took to be an actress, I did not want to be an actress anymore.
I tore the script and eventually left. On my way home, I cried because I had left a well-paying job to join Nollywood, and I was already a single mother at the time.”
During the interview, the actress also opened up about why she ditched Christianity for Islam.
DAILY GIST recalls that Mercy converted to Islam following her marriage to filmmaker Kazeem Adeoti in 2022.
She said: “It’s because of love that I did what I did, I remarried. I’m a lover girl, very emotional. I love love.”
When asked specifically why she changed her religion, she responded: “I just decided on my own. I’m a 45-year-old woman, responsible for my actions and decisions.”
“After COVID, I was struggling with church, so I decided to follow my husband, which strengthened our bond. I am excited to learn his religion, how to pray, and everything.”
Speaking on her feelings for her husband, she expressed: “I love my husband so much. I don’t think any woman would have gone through what I went through if it was not for love because I really didn’t have to. I mean, I’m comfortable, I have glory, I have kids, so it’s love that did that for me.”
