Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Mercy Johnson Exclusive: ‘I No Longer Know Who I Am’


Ms Johnson is not letting all the negative press get to her...

It’s the kind of telephone conversation you wish didn’t have to happen. Who wants to stay on the phone chatting with a seductress like Mercy Johnson when you can be with her in person, savouring all her assets, close up, winking at her per minute, and stealing hugs and kisses every time the opportunity presents itself.
But with conflicting work schedules and an impossible Lagos traffic, we had to make do with a phone affair, as our reporter dialogued with Ms Johnson. The popular actress is in her parents’ Badagry home this Wednesday evening, getting ready to leave for a location. For someone who is trailed by tales of flings and affairs, it’s surprising to find the young woman still lives with her folks. Surprising too, that she doesn’t feel scathed by all the rumours; not even bitter.
With a body that oozes sex, and a figure to die for, Ms Johnson combines her physical attributes with her acting gift to recruit fans from everywhere possible. If you don’t like her body, you’ll at least like her acting. And if, like most busy men , you really don’t give a hook about Nollywood movies, you’ll still find images of Mercy Johnson soothing and stimulating. Don’t lie – you do!
Just like Genevieve and Ini Edo before her, the Kogi-born entertainer has mastered the art of seduction. And she’s using it all to secure a place in our hearts and homes; in our lives!
Let’s set it straight once and for all. Are you pregnant?
Oh no. At all
Are you still planning to get married next month?
I’m getting married but the date is not out. I don’t know why everybody keeps giving me different dates. They shouldn’t worry. The wedding is pretty soon, we are still organizing it. Is’m getting married. I’m engaged (with emphasis), they should relax.
You still live in Badagry?
Yeah
One would have thought you would have moved to VGC or Lekki  by now?
I still live with my parents (chuckles), although I’m not always around but I still live with them.
Do you remember that popular and sexy picture of you wearing a white dress that left your cleavage on the glare? What were you thinking when you bought the dress, was it for men to drool or just to make headlines?
Oh yeah I know that one. Do you have a problem with the dress? It’s nothing. It’s just a dress, it was not to get anybody into to trouble. I saw it was pretty and I bought it. If had known it would put me in so much trouble I wouldn’t have bought it.
For someone talented like you, it’s difficult to believe when people say you slept your way to the top. Does it make you feel bad?
No it doesn’t at all. My job speaks for me. I don’t care what all haters say, they don’t bother me. My job just speaks for me. I’m still here today because I know what I’m doing. Whatever! ‘Na dem know’.
From your experience, what would you say is the biggest problem facing Nollywood?
(Hmmm – thinking hard) I basically think that what Nollywood needs is cooperation and government intervention. We need to grow in every aspect; manpower, films, creativity and when corporate and government bodies get involved, the whole standard will be upgraded. That’s what we need. We need to step up our game.
Seriously, have you dated or slept with any producer or director before to get a role?
(Laughs) No. No.
But you must get sex offers from them. How do you keep the lustful men in check?
I don’t have to keep anybody in check. When they say I slept with this producer and that director, it baffles me. Though no one is saying anybody is a saint but if I sleep with them to feature in their films, will I sleep with people too to buy the films? Am I gonna sleep with the fans to fight for me on facebook? It’s funny. Am I going to travel to America and force them to buy my films by sleeping with them? It doesn’t work that way. You either know what you are doing or you don’t know it. I’m happy that in all the allegations that Mercy sleeps with everybody, they haven’t said that Mercy doesn’t know how to act. That’s not there. Even in Journalism or Banking, all you need to do is know your onions. If you know your onions, things work for you and if you do otherwise afterwards, that’s your own problem. I’m not saying I’m part of that school, but I’m saying the way people think about me is funny. I get called a lot of names, though I don’t have a problem with that, but the point is, it’s not compulsory you do some dirty things before you can attain the zenith of your career.
Would you ever consider dating a white man?
Not particularly (laughing heartily…) I don’t have a problem with it
Which of the movies you have featured would say you regretted being part of?
None, I hate to hold up to mistakes or blaming my fault on somebody else. I just move on. So there is none I can pick for now
How many movies have you starred so far?
Lots of them. Quite much. If I have to say 300 hundred now they will say…oh 300 sex. So quite a lot
So what has been the highest amount you were paid for a movie role?
I can’t tell you
Comparing Omotola and Genevieve, who’s your favourite?
I can’t pick. I like them both
If you didn’t make it big as an actress, what would you be doing right now?
I would be a broadcaster or an entertainer 
Maybe it’s not too late, we could still swap.  I’ll be the celebrated actor and you be a journalist, how about that?
(Bursts into laughter) Hell no, you guys don’t have a conscience but I do
What do you mean we don’t have conscience?
But it’s true. If I do something bad, my conscience pricks me but that’s not the case for you guys. I can’t just cook up something that doesn’t exist about someone because I have the power of the pen. So I can’t be a journalist. I’m sorry.
So you are saying I’m in a wrong vocation?
Ahhhh! No ooo! Somebody has to do it now, so that’s why you are there.
So who’s the lucky man and what struck you in him that made you decide to marry him?
(Blushing) 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.

source: www.thenetng.com

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