Most celebrity figures will likely face the difficult choice of being honest with their fans or altering the truth to suit them. All too often, these figures choose to tell those little white lies, but ultimately regret such decisions when they balloon into big publicity nightmares.
Just when many male fans of the talented-but-scandalized Nollywood actress Mercy Johnson, craved to get a chance to win an intimate encounter with her and take full autonomy of her incredible curves, a certain Edo-born prince named Odanosen Okojie supposedly got the ticket to Miss Johnson’s heart. The Nollywood star had no problem telling friends and fans that she would soon be leaving the bachelorettes’ club.
A traditional pre-wedding introduction was reportedly held at her family home in Ebira land (Okene, Kogi State) on Friday November 27, 2009, while the proper wedding was pencilled for April 2010.
We reported on Thursday, December 10 2009 that Mercy’s Fiancé was given a list of things required for the engagement and marriage as confirmed by a reliable source.
Days, months rolled by, there was no sign of wedding invitations from neither Mr. Odanosen nor Mercy Johnson’s quarters; but speculations didn’t stop in the media, with different newspapers giving different dates for Mercy’s wedding. Either ways the anticipation was still high.
In July 2010, the Kogi-born actress still confirmed to us excitedly in an interview that her wedding would hold before that year packed up; ‘I’m getting married but the date is not out’.
‘I don’t know why everybody keeps bringing up different dates. They should not worry. The wedding is coming up pretty soon, we are still organizing it. I am getting married. I’m engaged (with emphasis), they should relax’, she added.
‘He’s a good person. He seems to understand me. He’s a private person and for the fact that he understands me in my ‘silly’ nature, he’s awesome’, Johnson told us about her supposed fiancé during the interview. Interesting.
Where is this awesome gentleman and what’s causing the delays? Did she deceive her fans? Did the relationship collapse prematurely? Are they still together and working to execute the wedding or was it just a PR stunt?
However, Johnson, who is one of our favourite actresses of 2010, is not the only one that has ‘promised and failed’.
Many ‘celebrity lies’ were told in 2010. ‘Yahooze’ star Olumide Adegbulu better known as Olu Maintain also told a big lie about his union with a UK-based chartered accountant named Wendy Ajakaiye, whom he said he would walk down the aisle with, in the last quarter of 2010.
‘It is true; I am getting married very soon. Her name is Wendy and I met her in Los Angeles last year (2009) when I was out there recording. She was on holiday from the UK and coincidentally lodged in the same hotel on the same floor where I was staying. Her room was almost directly opposite mine. Instant telepathy ensued once I set my eyes on her. I knew she is the girl for me. She’s very beautiful, extremely intelligent, very career driven, tolerant, kind and very understanding’, Mr. Olu told City People Magazine in a June 2010 interview.
Those who are discerning about the happenings in the Nigerian showbiz environment would still recall that screaming headline on NET newspapers’ 2010 mid-June edition that read ‘WILL OLU MARRY THIS GIRL?’ It is March 2011; where is Olu Maintain and his supposed bride, Wendy Ajakaiye? Another lie or break up?
If all the former ‘Maintain group’ member needed at the time was publicity as his music career seemed not buying him spaces on the pages of newspapers anymore, then it must have worked well – no newspaper editor is interested in a non-newsworthy individual in his paper.
Meanwhile, most recently, Olu is being linked with another society lady Eunice Efole, but information is scanty as to the true state of her relationship as both of them have denied their romance speculations.
With celebs lying from both sides of the mouth, and their minders doing all possible best to conceal the truth, it’s not surprising that reporters are more desperate to get the scoop; digging deeper than ever before. Moreover, many now take statements from so-called stars with a pinch of salt.
When next Olu or Johnson announce they are hooked and settling down, would their fans take them seriously? Would the media think they are telling the truth? That would be Doubtful!
Telling the truth will always be best for any celebrity’s career on the long run, because when the truth becomes known, it is not a pretty picture.
Until the Nigerian entertainment scene becomes a proper industry like Hollywood, with an ocean of ready-made and emerging stars and billions of fan-base, an industry where taking fans for granted is almost a sin – knowing the negative turn it can take on their careers, the lies and the dump PR stunts will not stop.
