Nollywood Q&A | 16 March 2012 00:12 CET

Never Judge A Book By Its Cover – Njamah

By AJIBADE ALABI

Empress Njamah is not only your kind of girl; she is also a talented actress that has been in the industry for years. But like all celebrities, she has paid a lot of price for her celebrity's status. The recent one being the allegation that she acted in pornographic movie, to the extent that it was stated that her nude picture is on internet. But despite all these, this talented curvy actress never looked back, as she told Ajibade Alabi in this exclusive interview she talks. Excerpts:

A lot has been written and said about you, most of which are negative. Are you really a controversial person?

I don t know why people think of me in such a way. I have addressed this issue many times. I am not controversial person, there are many actresses that will do worse than what I have done, yet they will not be termed a controversial persons. I am the opposite of what people think, and that the truth.

Never judge a book by its cover; I am a typical example of that. When people who have read or heard a lot of negative reports about me meet me, they are always shocked. Some will even render their apology, telling me: , “Empress, 1 am sorry, I didn't think you were this kind of warm.” You see with the way people painted me especially you press, anyone who has not met me before will think I am a devil.

Being colorful does not mean I am controversial. For instance, I am very passionate about my hair and also colourful with my fingers and they are very, very long. Also I wear loud make- up, I am not a controversial person, I do what I believes is good for me. So when I hear people say I am a controversial person I just laugh, why because I know I am not

But how do you cope with all these negative perceptions about your person and how do you manage to be strong whenever you hear or read such negative stories about yourself?

I have developed strong skins for such a negative stories about me. But one thing that has always been going for me is the response from people who truly love me… I don't know if you understand me, if I have offended so many people, I won't have the faith to come out I am; nice to a lot of people and a lot of people know what I can do and what I cannot do, what I mean it is just that I can't explain this to everyone in the world.

So how do I cope? I kneel down to beg God and I said God give me the strength, is not easy if it was your sister you all will take the burden. I said God give me the strength- to bear this and and I try to feel it, it is traumatizing and devastating, psychologically it really not good for me but for the love of Christ and for the love of friends and for the love of what I believe or who I believe in, I keep on moving

Part of the rumour has it that you practice lesbianism and that you are also a kleptomaniac. How true is this?

Thank God you said it is a rumor, but at any rate I don' t know how somebody will just derive pleasure in saying I am practicing lesbianism and that am also a kleptomaniac. But one question I wan t to ask is: would there be something somebody would be doing without being caught?

How can I be indulging in lesbianism and kleptomania? And let me tell you something, a lot of people aren't just happy seeing you smiling, they just wake up and cook up a story, it is normal among the people, it is called “beef” , so I don t believe in them. Some people are just there to tarnish one's image.

Like I told a journalist who interviewed me last month, when he asked the same question you asked now I told him if he can tell me the person that is carrying all these stories I would call the person. I have heard it everywhere, people have tried me and I just laugh. But all the same it is a price you have to pay being in the limelight of society

Let us come to your love life, obviously you are in another relationship after your well-publicized romance with Timaya went sour. Can you tell about your new relationship?

I am actually dating my friend. The most important thing in a relationship is to be friends and when you are fiends you learn from each other. I think God sent him. I have never been happy in a relationship like this before. He is my friend, he is my brother and he is also my father because he puts me right. I like the fact that he is a Chistian and I am also a very good Christian

Does that make your new man different from your former one, I mean Timaya?

Please I don't want us to talk any more about my past love life which Timaya represented

Are you telling us you have not forgiven Timaya nor are you still having a quarrel with him?

Quarreling with whom? I am not having any quarrel with anybody, we are Africans and we are Nigerians. And people often say our heart are like our colours.

There is something called forgiveness and there is something called forgetting. I would say it is difficult to actually forget a particular incidence that the whole world knows about but it is easier to forgive and then if you do not forgive, you have so many things stored in your hearts and it will weigh you down.

That means you are yet to forget what really happened?

People still talk about it. Even when 1 go to church people still make reference to the issue. But I am happy a lot of respectable magazines and newspapers were there when Timaya came to make trouble in the church, we also had plenty people and security around.

So, the 'news was taken genuinely except for the normal gossip magazines that went on to lie because they want to sell.

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