Pretty Ghanaian actress, Juliet Ibrahim has disclosed that she and her husband, Kwadwo Safo had been divorced for a year and they decided to keep it private because of their son.
The actress in a release affirmed speculations that her four-year-old marriage to Kwadwo Safo had come to an end.
She explained in the statement that her decision “to keep the divorce on the low was so that the two involved would not be distracted from their responsibilities toward the child they have together.”
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Myjoyonline.com, Juliet, who was adjudged the Best Ghanaian Actress at the 2014 edition of the City people Entertainment Awards held in Nigeria, said she and Kwadwo were separated a year before that.
“I am divorced. It’s over a year now…we were separated for a long time,” she said.
The bubbly actress and producer said she was pushed to release the statement on the divorce due to the false rumours people were peddling about her.
Juliet disclosed that even though she and Kwadwo Safo, son of renowned Ghanaian religious leader, Apostle Kwadwo Safo, are officially divorced, they are still the best of friends and they constantly keep in touch.
“We are cool. On a normal day, he will call me and we will be chatting like a brother and sister. Almost every day we talk. It’s not about love, but we have a bond, we have a child together,” she said beaming with smiles.
The award winning actress refuted speculations that the divorce was fuelled by her husband cheating on her allegedly: “Nobody’s cheating on anybody. It’s a mutual agreement” and that things were not working between them.
‘Marriage regrets’
To Juliet, marriage was sweet but her only regret was that she rushed into it without examining fully whether they were compatible as a couple.
“Maybe the only regret I hold is the fact that maybe I should have waited and really know if we were ready to be in marriage but we’re just like young people in love so we didn’t think twice about it. We just went in for it, maybe we should have taken our time to really know if we can live together,” she revealed.
The actress explained further that, “It’s a different thing when you are dating somebody and then living with the person so maybe if we would have taken our time we would have known that maybe we are better off as boyfriend-girlfriend than to be married.”
Asked the chances of them coming back together, Juliet burst into laughter and said “it is possible” but “if I happen to meet someone I also love more than him, I will change my mind.”
Her three-year-old son, Jaiden, she noted, is coping well. She and her husband are doing their best to make enough time for him to always feel at home. “He knows we don’t live together.”
‘Movie life’
Juliet Ibrahim, born to a Lebanese father and a half Ghanaian-half-Liberian mother, entered into acting after she won Queen of Languages of the Institute of Languages in 2004. Her firstmovie role was in ‘Crime to Christ.’
She is planning to celebrate her 10th anniversary in the movie industry later this year.
The actress said contrary to perceptions, she is a shy person, “an ordinary girl” and “very friendly” and that “when people look at me on the street and tell me they think I am stuck up and I am rude and they don’t like me because of my personality, I laugh because you’ve only seen the personality I acted on screen [and not real life] and that means I was so good to convince you that I am that bad but naturally I am not.”
‘Nudity’
Asked if she will ever accept to play nude in a movie, Juliet Ibrahim stressed that even for 10 million dollars, she won’t accept such a role.
She explained that, “there is a limit to what you can do in movies in Africa because of our culture and upbringing. Morally there are some things if you overdo it, it’s going to be wrong. I have done a couple of movies where I have to kiss people romantically, it’s done, it’s just acting…
“it’s done well in a manner that people don’t see it as bad but when you want to now start taking off cloths, and maybe like going naked, I can’t do that because I’m a mother, I have a child. I’m a typical African woman, grounded to the roots. There are things that I know that I will never be comfortable that my mother is watching movie, my mum is seeing me doing [in movies].”
As a producer, she has her own rules and regulations when it comes to movies and believes that “there is a tasteful way of doing things when you want to produce or when you want act all these love making [scenes].”
‘Music’
Juliet disclosed that she loves dancing and singing and that music is her first passion before acting. She has so far has three singles to her credit, ‘Celebrate,’ ‘Traffic Jam’, and ‘It’s Over Now.’
She said she will be releasing an eight-track album by December this year. The album will feature some Ghanaian and Nigerian musicians.
False stories’
Juliet Ibrahim is one of many celebrities who constantly receive media attention for both the right and wrong reasons. Interestingly, she said about 70 percent of stories about her in the media are false.
According to her, she used to be worried about false reportage about her when she entered the industry in 2004 but she has now grown to take them lightly.
“I have come so far” in the industry that, she does not “really listen to what people say. I have heard so much, there are times I wake up in the morning and somebody quotes me in an interview that they claim they had with me.”
‘Producing movies’
“Producing is very challenging but acting is sweet” explaining that a producer has to make sure that “the money you’ve been given to produce a movie does not exceed the budget.”
She admitted that combining acting and producing is very stressful. She is currently the CEO of Jewels Productions. She funded her first movie, the ‘Number One Fan’ which was premiered in Ghana last year.
She is currently working on a new project, ‘Shattered Romance’. The movie stars, Brian Okwara, and Benro Ajebade from Nigeria and Ghanaian actors, Pascaline Edwards, Paulina Edwards, Sonia Ibrahim, and herself. Eddie Nartey is directing the movie.
‘The Juliet Ibrahim Foundation’
She started the Juliet Ibrahim Foundation to help fund Kidney and Cancer patients in Ghana.
The foundation, since its launch in 2011, has touched the lives of several people including Richard Kwasi Yeboah, who will be having a kidney transplant later this month.