Sex-for-role: How I almost quit Nollywood – Mercy Aigbe

• Mercy Aigbe has opened up on how she almost quit the Nigerian movie industry.
• The actress said when she just joined Nollywood, she met a producer who made advances at her and tried to touch her in other to get a good role.
• Refusing, Mercy Aigbe said she tore the script she was given and was in tears because she left her well lying job for Nollywood.

Popular Nigerian actress and filmmaker, Mercy Aigbe Adeoti has opened up on how she almost left the movie industry over sexual harassment.
The movie star, in a recent interview on ‘Your View’, a talk show on TVC, said a producer made passes at her after a movie audition.

She added that despite earning a top role for the upcoming film, she was given another role and it was when she spoke up she realized that he wanted to get down with her to get a better role.

Mercy Aigbe added that though she had other challenges in the industry, she made her way to the top through consistency. She said:

“I once met a producer in Surulere, and I expressed to him how much I would love to act. He told me he had an upcoming film, and invited me to his office for an audition. I passed three stages of the audition. After the last audition, I was given a minor role. I told him that was not the character I was auditioning for, and he replied that the director said he did not know me, and that was why he said I should be close to him (the producer).
“He had been making passes at me before then, but he did not come out clean to me until that day. He then stood up and tried to touch me. I was very upset, and I told him he could not do that to me, because I had earned the role.

That was a huge insult to my person, and I thought if that was what it took to be an actress, I did not want to be an actress anymore. I tore the script and eventually left. On my way home, I cried because I had left a well-paying job to join Nollywood, and I was already a single mother at the time.”

WITHIN NIGERIA recalls in same interview, Mercy Aigbe stated the reasons she decided to convert from Christianity to Islam and why she took all the bashing online in good faith.

The actress said it is simply because of the love she has for her spouse, Kazim Adeoti.

Mercy Aigbe stated that the switch in religions wasn’t forced on her, but was her choice and it strengthened their bond as a couple.