Nons. Miraj Shares how Sexual Harassment made Her leave Nollywood!
Today it’s all about CHINONSO JENNIFER UKAH (Nons Miraj)
Ada Jesus or Nons. Miraj is an actor, content creator and full-ground Lagos babe. She shared with me her journey from dealing with sexual harassment in Nollywood to how she dealt with the recent non-scandal involving her, her best friend and a popular politician. She also explained how she learnt to keep moving and growing strong in spite of everything thrown at her.
She talked about losing her father, building her repertoire and how she came to know that she is a total spec on #WithChude!
The shock about her scandal with her best friend and a politician!
“I was literally looking for how to edit my skit and bring the grand palava out. I was hustling, (saying) ‘editor correct this thing now wetin dey happen’. Someone just called me, ‘this blog don carry you oh!’
I said ‘Jesus!’ I went to check it, then, I saw myself, with Dino in the middle, and I saw ‘threesome’.
Next thing, my friends call came in, ‘Nonso, wetin dey happen?’
“I was shaking because I didn’t know how to explain to my mother that this thing is not true. How do you explain to people that you did not do it because they were not there with you.
“If you Google our name now, you see will a poster of I, Ashmusy and the man in the middle. You understand I want to travel out of the country; do not be thinking this one is ashawo. It was annoying.
“People were advising me not to comment on that blog. But because I know I am so innocent, I went to their DM and told them ‘God will punish you for this thing, you will die’. Later on, I summoned courage, “Nonso, you didn’t do this thing”. I don’t know the blogger, but whoever is behind it, ‘bring proof!’
So, when the person wanted to move to new gist, all my friends were like ‘bring proof oh’, ‘don’t go to another gist, because you cannot accuse me just to give your blog a little pop’. Maybe the blog was already dying, and they had to now bring something that would make it trend again. I didn’t like the idea of that, but then again good or bad publicity, it’s all publicity.
“Me? I have not seen him as a fan, like how my friend said she saw him and recorded him. If I see him, I’ll go and hold his leg. I have never met this man before, that is the honest truth.”
About sexual harassment in Nollywood!
“It comes differently, because there are different people. It’s not one person, so everybody has their tactics. The one that will start telling people, ‘this is my girlfriend oh!’ You’ll be shocked, thinking ‘when did I enter a relationship, that I don’t even know about?’
“He wants to connect you to somebody, but will tell them ‘my girlfriend is coming to meet you’. I don’t know if it’s like a code. So, when that one hears my girlfriend, he feels like you’re easily accessible. Then you go there and then he is making advances.
“In some worse cases, they will even ask you to pay money. Sometimes, they will collect your money to feature you in their film. I didn’t do that one. I saw my friends go through shit in that one, you give maybe 30k, 50k, and they’ll give you the role. That’s how you see some Nollywood films, the person is acting rubbish you’ll be wondering how they cast this person, they just paid for it.
It’s a lot, some might be very open and ask you, ‘Nne don’t you want to be like Genevieve, Omotola? You are going to be a superstar’. You will be mesmerized literally, and you don’t know how to get angry.
“You can’t go home and tell your parents this because you won’t go out again that day. So, I hid all those things from my parents.
“What I am always careful about is, ‘don’t go and shout before the person rapes you’. As he just talk, I know how to play along, saying ‘yes sir, no problem, sir’. Immediately I left that room, I carried my bag, and went back to my father’s house.
“So, when I saw that it was a consistent thing, that they were doing in Nollywood, I just washed my hands and said I wasn’t doing again again. That was why I left.”
Thank you, Ada nwa, for being your full self!
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