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<\/p>\nFunke Akindele<\/p>\n
Funke Akindele is a Nigerian success story. Here is a girl who has made it, who is a household name in Nigeria and beyond, who has fame and money, but one thing is missing: a man to marry her.<\/p>\n
Like every girl, she dreams to have a home and a family all of her own. \u201cOnce I start my home, I hope to cut down on acting so that I can give my family more attention,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
But for now, the men are not coming, or too scared to come, making her to turn to God in prayer.<\/p>\n
\u201cMan proposes and God disposes\u201d, she says, waxing spiritual, \u201cso people should keep their fingers crossed and pray for Funke Akindele to meet the bone of her bone and the flesh of her flesh and not somebody else.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is one of my dreams to bear children soon and I believe it will come to pass soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not marrying early is something that seems to run in the family.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy parents went through the process and it is their joy that I also pass through the same process,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
There is a sense of poignancy to it all as the celebrity actress compares her situation to some of her age mates who are already married and have children.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of my mates have more than three kids today,\u201d she laments, again going spiritual: \u201cPerhaps, this is how God wants me to be for now. When the time comes, and that time could be anytime, I hope to put acting on hold for a family\u201d.<\/p>\n
In a typical Nigerian family setting, there would have been parental pressures to marry, but not so with Akindele\u2019s parents.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a wonderful mother that prays and encourages me. She admonishes me not to go after money but true love.
\u201cPeople who know me closely would tell you that I don\u2019t have airs at all. Of course, I want to get married to somebody that I love and who<\/p>\n
understands me; who loves me for whom I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
Funke\u2019s situation is made difficult by the general perception of actresses as not being too good as wives.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople say that men are often scared of actresses because they are famous, rich, drive around in posh cars and command a lot of attention. That all these make a \u2018struggling\u2019 guy gets scared and run away.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo all the guys scared of approaching her for marriage, Akindele says: \u201cYou don\u2019t have to let inferiority complex overwhelm you. If God says you are the right person for me, then nothing will stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n
For a star actress of her stature to get a husband, Akindele knows she has to come down from her high horse or from her Olympian heights of pride.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to be humble; don\u2019t let it get to your head. Just be yourself and be down to earth.\u201d<\/p>\n
She recalls the so many occasions \u201cwhen people want to walk up to me when I am in a public place and they are jittery. For instance, I was at Shoprite Mall recently and heard a guy telling his friend that he would love to say hi but felt I was a proud person but I shocked him by saying, \u2018Hi, how are you? I am not a proud person o.\u2019 I do that a lot of times.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Where is the Glo money?\u2019<\/p>\n
Like every Lagos city girl, Akindele has had her own close shave with death, an experience that can easily be turned into a movie.
So far, she has experienced two different violent attacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first one was in the traffic,\u201d she recalls \u201cit was just a toy gun affair and I fell for it. They took my bag and said Jenifa jowo, ma bi nu (we are sorry).\u201d<\/p>\n
The second robbery took place at a popular Lagos Hotel where she lodged with three others during the shoot of Omo Ghetto 2.<\/p>\n
For Akindele, it was one hell of an experience which nearly ended up in a rape because she was in her pyjamas and was getting ready for a massage. It was in the night, some minutes past 10 p.m., when she heard the shouts of Ole, Ole (thief thief).<\/p>\n
\u201cI immediately put a call across to the reception and they said there was nothing wrong and that it was just noise from the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n
\u201cHardly had I dropped the call than I heard gun shots. I went cold immediately, I called out my friends. Bimbo was very strong, she quickly told us to wear our jeans and run into the bathroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were raiding the rooms\u2019 one after the other. Our door was the last door to be opened. They didn\u2019t find it easy. They left and returned into the room after one of them insisted that I was in the room.<\/p>\n
\u201cI recalled praying and my spirit told me that they would enter but I should pray that they won\u2019t hurt any of us.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey barged into the room and by the time they got to the bathroom door, my friends Bimbo and Joy had formed a shield in front of me.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut when I heard them cock the gun, I leapt forward. One of them tried to hit me and asked for Owo Glo (Glo money).
\u201cAnother member of the gang came to my defence and told him to leave me alone, telling him I was the star of Jenifa.\u201d<\/p>\n
Was she raped as was widely alleged?<\/p>\n
Akindele answered emphatically no!<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no iota of truth in the false story that I was raped. They took away money and jewellery. It was a close shave. Up till now, I am still wondering where I got the strength to face the robbers.<\/p>\n
For coming out of robbery attack unscathed, Akindele has God to thank. She says, \u201cGod has been my strength. I pray regularly but I am no saint however. I don\u2019t joke with my Psalms.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Nollywood icon who has starred in many big home videos, Funke Akindele\u2019s defining movie was Jenifa, a comedy starring her as a campus \u201cbush girl\u201d who wants to belong to the circle of campus city slickers. So successful was Jenifa that Akindele wants to build the Jenifa character into a brand.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to use Jenifa to change people\u2019s lives\u201d she explains. \u201cWhenever Jenifa says \u201cexcuse me\u201d the youth will listen, I see Jenifa later working in a cr\u00e8che or as a nanny. A TV series on Jenifa is not out of the picture.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also in the pipeline is \u201cThe Return O f Jenifa\u201d (TROJ) which will be in the cinemas in September. So far, it has been frustrating for Akindele to come up with the sequel to Jenifa. \u201cour plan to make the event a grand one was threatened and it got to me at some point but I shook it off,\u201d Akindele says \u201c I psyche up myself and reminded myself that there were so many people looking up to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Naturally, Akindele is still expected to star as Jenifa in the sequel. Even though she excelled in the role, Akindele initially wanted someone else to feature as Jenifa.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never wanted to play the lead role in Jenifa. I played the role because I would not find anyone suitable for the character.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only person I would have assigned the role was Ronke Oshodi but I fell she was too big for the role and I couldn\u2019t get anyone else. During the production, the workload was so much on me. Aside from writing, producing and acting, I had oversight of every department and process. I was exhausted at the end of the project but the grace of God has been sufficient for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have excelled as a producer and have received awards for these roles and I hope to get more by the grace of God. Like my mum will tell me, whatever thing one does, one should keep doing it because you will never know the one that will bring you fame and wealth. I will keep producing and I am sure one day, Hollywood will come knocking on my door.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a world where art imitates life, many think Jenifa and Funke Akindele are the same. It is one comparism that angers Akindele who says she cannot be compared \u201cwith that useless Jenifa character.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, no, no,\u201d she protests, \u201cFunke Akindele looks better in appearance than Jenifa. This is because when you see Funke Akindele, she doesn\u2019t talk or act like Jenifa as a person. They are two different people.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only thing they share together is that both Jenifa and Funke Akindele are nice individuals. Also, both of them don\u2019t care about their dressing. I am not a designer\u2019s freak. Because my colleagues are putting on Christian Louboutin shoes doesn\u2019t mean I also have to do the same thing. I am just me. I don\u2019t have to, but Jenifa would go all out to feel among.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition, even in her \u2018uncultured\u2019 appearance, Jenifa doesn\u2019t have a low self-esteem; same thing with Funke Akindele. I am first a simple, down to earth, go-getter and warmly lady. I don\u2019t take life so hard. It\u2019s not a do-or-die thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere I am today, I never knew I would find myself. I just love doing this thing. Anything I get involved in, I throw my will into it. At the end of the day, my success comes along the line.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever I do, I just want to enjoy it. I do my things well because, I love doing it. At the end of the day, I hear comments like \u2018Funke Akindele is desparate\u2019 or \u2018she is a go-getter\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n
She likes to define her style in terms of simplicity. \u201cI love to be single. Of course, I love looking good and I love to wear good things but I am not loud.\u201d<\/p>\n
When it comes to extravagance, Akindele says: \u201cMy vanity would be shoes, some of which even big celebrities don\u2019t have yet, but I don\u2019t wear them. This is because I hardly go out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anyone wanting to marry Funke, should be ready for a workaholic who hardly attends social events because \u201cIf I am yet to finish work on a script, I won\u2019t abandon my work. I work a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the end of her hard work, Akindele is saddened by the cankerworm of pirates who feed where they did not sow.<\/p>\n
\u201cPiracy is eating deep into the fabrics of the industry,\u201d she laments. \u201cIt\u2019s now so sad that we hardly realize up to one million Naira in a movie.
\u201cIf we release in the morning, by evening, the pirates are out with their own edition. We don\u2019t make money from DVDs again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just like she is praying for a husband, so is she also praying for the day when the evil of piracy would be stamped out of the entertainment industry \u201cso that a hard-working girl like me can fully reap from where she had sown.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne first needs to be prayerful and work hard,\u201d she says. \u201cI have not had a good sleep for some days now and that is because I have been busy lately. How I don\u2019t break down has to do with the grace of God. I sleep a lot when I get the chance and I am trying to cultivate the habit of going to the gym and doing aerobic exercises. I sleep a lot and my folks don\u2019t wake me, except when I have an appointment.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n