.MERCY is a graduate of Theatre Arts from the University of Ibadan and the second in a family of five, a Christian family from Edo State.
“I’m now a married woman,” she said proudly, adding: “I’ve got two beautiful kids.”
A movie production named Ara, shot her into the limelight.
“Well, I’ll just say it’s the grace of God and hard work on my side. I just believe that if you work very hard and you pray, and you stay focused, and you always stay goal oriented; I’ll say what has really helped me is pure hard work and God’s grace upon my life,” she said.
She described herself as a very hard working, very friendly and a down to earth person.
“I can’t stick with lazy people,” she said. “I’m also a very blunt person.”
She does not joke with her work, no wonder she has produced movies even more than those who had spent longer time in the industry.
Mercy who got married last year debunked the rumour that she married her husband, Larry Gents, an hotelier for his money.
Her words: “I love my husband very much and my husband loves me too. I was not poor, I’m a hard working woman and I make my money too. I married a rich man, well, I’m lucky; but I work hard and I make my own money.”
Mercy’s hubby has two wives. She is number two. She shared her experience so far in a polygamous home.
“There is no problem because my lyale (The first wife) doesn’t even live in Nigeria. She lives in the US with her kids, and she hardly comes around. In Nigeria, I’m the only wife and she is like a senior aunty to me. It is people outside that create problem, when there is no problem. She has lived abroad all her life; she hardly comes home. She is even happy I’m married to her husband. She is like a big aunty we talk all the time,” she said.
Being a celebrity has its good and bad side. Mercy had one experience she will never forget.
She said: “There was a day I went to the shopping mall and there was this young girl with her mother who came shopping. When this girl saw me, she started screaming and shedding tears. The girl’s name is actually Kanyin, you know I felt loved. I was like oh God! That means for her to have acted that way, she had some love for me. That made my head to swell… I couldn’t just describe the feelings I had that particular day. I was just crying and saying: Oh Lord! I just thank you because that means they are seeing me.
“For someone to love me so much and showed that kind of feeling; someone I didn’t even know, someone watching me on TV, I was like Oh! Father I’m blessed. That’s an experience that I can never forget. There are so many others, another memorable one is when I went somewhere and this ruffians just came and they were like ‘Iwo leni, iwo loma lo n gbe bon, o ma Ion se bitoo to’, just because I acted a bad girl that carried gun in a movie. They said: ‘Ibon e da oya, a maa pa e leni. They brought out a gun and asked me where my own gun is. They too glamorous, I am just in between. I wear what I’m comfortable in. I am a trendsetter. I love to be the first to do things, but I don’t overdo things. I believe there is style in simplicity. I’m not a lousy person. My best color is blue and I also love green.
When asked what accessories she will break the bank for, she said: “I have so many of them, maybe shoes and bags, wrist watches. In fact, everything; I am a very fashionable person; I don’t have a particular accessory I love most, I just know I love shoes, jewelries and clothes.
“I’ve lost count of my pairs of shoes; I love good shoes, I love good bags, and I love good jewelries. So, I don’t really have any fashion accessory I can die for, I can die for all of them.
“My makeup varies. I use Mary Kay products, and I use Mac products; the truth is just that I am an olojukokoro; I don’t really have said if I didn’t bring out my gun they would kill me. I begged them that it’s just a movie. I think those two experiences I can never forget.”
On how she has been able to cope as a wife, mother and actress, juggling between locations, she said: “It’s not been easy, but I will say I have been blessed with a wonderful man, very understanding; he is someone who loves me unconditionally; he is not selfish. I just have a wonderful husband and he makes my job easier.
Describing her husband and the attraction between them, she said: “He is caring, loving, and handsome. He is also understanding, mature and he is prayerful. Those are the qualities I had always been looking out for in a man. I have them in my husband.”
a preference. I may just wake up today and say today its Clenic and tomorrow I might just say I don’t want any make up. I’m a very restless soul; I get bored easily with things.”
Although she has attained fame in the industry, she said she was yet to have a big achievement in the industry, adding: “I don’t have any big achievement. I have just started. I don’t think I have gotten to the quarter of where I want to get to. I can only say I have a big achievement when I’m able to stand as a legend in the industry, when my name has a permanent stamp in the industry. When I have become a serious force to reckon with, I don’t want to just reign for a while then fade away like weather actress. If in 50 years to this time I am still this strong then I can say I have the biggest achievement. When Theatre Arts students see Mercy Aigbe as a reference point then I can say I have the biggest Mercy’s boldest step in life is her decision to study Theatre Arts in school.
She said: “My family was vehemently against me studying Theatre Arts. I just believed I have the talent. I felt if I study Theatre Arts I will be equipped to face whatever challenges in the industry, and it will make me a professional. My father especially was like No! No! No! For a year when I was in school I had my uncle pay my school fees, but I went through hell. I think that was my boldest step.
“He’s now proud of me. He’ll tell people, ‘that’s my daughter. Do you know Mercy Aigbe? She’s my daughter’. I just give God all the glory”
Aigbe has a great sense of Fashion; she said: “I am not too simple and I am not achievement. But for now, I am just starting and I know my God is going to take me there.”
Aigbe, who is very proud of her 10-year-old daughter from her past relationship, said although her children brings her joy but her past life is gone and buried.
Her words: “I don’t like talking about my past. I don’t believe in the past because if you keep operating on the past, you will not move forward. That’s my past, it’s past and buried; this is now, and I’m focusing on my future.”
On the future of her marriage, she said: “It’s in God’s hands, and I believe anything in God’s hands is in safe hands and He is in control. God is in control of my marriage.”
Explaining why she has a phobia for traveling, she said: “I hate the rigorous security checkup of taking off your shoes and all that. I hate it.
However busy she is, she still finds time to run a programme titled: Ogbontarigi osere.
“I have a programme I run once in a month in the hotel where I have normal club activities,” she said. “It’s a ladies night out. It’s in collaboration with highly placed actresses called ‘Ogbontarigi osere’ where 11 bring in celebrities and celebrate them. I believe we should celebrate ourselves while we’re still alive, not when one is gone. I give fans opportunities to come in and 1 ask celebrities questions they’ve always wanted to ask them. Fans may have read something in the newspaper they want their celebrities to debunk or ! just say something about. It’s an opportunity for fans to meet their favorite celebrities. I just catch fun doing all that. It comes up every last Thursday of the month.”
