Jemima Osunde Gets Real About Price of Fame in Nigeria

Nollywood actress Jemima Osunde is getting real about some of the struggles of being an actress and why she doesn't want to be put on the pedestal that people put her. Speaking passionately during her appearance on Running Lines, Jemima Osunde spoke about this saying:

JEMIMA OSUNDE: Sometimes I need to isolate. I think isolation is a key part of surviving as an actor, but it also ties back to being so recognizable. People don't understand it.

If I want to quickly buy Aquafina water, let me drive from my house to the supermarket. I've not even reached my destination, with my hair in a bonnet on my head, maybe my pimple patch is sucking one pimple, somebody wants a selfie. Everyday life is harder for you to do because people recognize you.

The regular things you can just do as, you know, someone who has a 9 to 5 or whose job doesn't put them in front of the camera, it's different for us. I'm at the airport, if they've delayed my flight 5, 6 hours, I'm angry, but I cannot lash out because I don't know where the camera is coming from. Next thing you see yourself on the blogs: 'Nollywood actress spotted at the airport sparking.'

Acting comes with fame more than fortune, if we're being honest, especially in Nigeria. But it comes with a lot of demands. It's almost like you cannot even go through regular stuff. This celebrity title that you're giving me, I don't want.

We're all paying Band A together. That's why the slightest thing, I'm quick to lament about things. You get what I mean? As much as it might not be pinching me like that, it's something that, you know, crossed my mind, I'm going to talk about it.

I want to be as relatable as possible because I don't want people to put me on a pedestal. I will jump down from it by myself. Gym membership has increased in price? I will lament about it before you that you're even doing 9 to 5 has complained about it, Jemima has complained on Twitter because you will never catch me unaware.

Let them not look at me with big eyes, because anywhere you pull up to, guess what? You're the one everyone's expecting to tip everyone. You're the one they're expecting to do chairman. So when police or whoever stop me now and they're hailing me, I'm hailing you right back. I'm going to hail you right back because I don't want that responsibility."

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