Anita Joseph is a frontline actress in Nigeria’s movie industry known as Nollywood. In this interview, she dwells on marriage, her Christian life, and what she has been up to.
You have been a scarce face in the movie industry lately, what is responsible for this, is it the recession?
Recession is not for me. Recession is not for children of God. I have been active in the industry. I don’t do movies every day, but I work. If you visit my instagram account you will see pictures of some of the movies that I have done recently. I don’t do every script that comes my way because every script doesn’t apply to me. I don’t want to do a hundred movies in a year. I want to do 10 good movies. I recently did a movie titled ‘The Altar’. You can check it out.
Earlier, you talked about recession not being for children of God, you really sounded like a true Christian, are you one?
I have been born-again since. It depends on your own definition of being born-again.
What is your definition of being born again?
Giving your life to Christ in totality, accepting the fact that you have repented from your sins and you don’t want to do them anymore. Even when you go astray, you fall back and ask God for forgiveness. That you don’t do some things that other people do, that you are a different person and because you have accepted Christ as your lord and personal savior you are different from other people in the world.
When did you give your life to God?
I gave my life to God a long time ago then I derailed, entered the industry and backslided. You won’t understand, it’s a long story. I gave my life to Christ in 2000, but it has not been easy.
How do you mean?
It’s not easy being who I am, an actress who is in Christ. There are a lot of temptations around.
How have you been coping with men who have tried to derail you?
It’s not being easy at all, but I survive because I know what to say to them. The quiet ones, I know what to say to them. There are others who don’t go away easily and I know what to say to them too. I have words to say to them.
What do you say to the hard ones who don’t give up easily?
When a woman is not interested in you there are a lot of things she does to scare you away. When I am not interested in a man there are a lot of things that I can do to keep him away from me.
Tell us about them, will you?
I can’t tell you. They are my secrets.
You are known as a sensual dresser, what motivates you to dress this way?
I dress according to my mood. I dress according to where I am going to. It depends on where I am going to. It’s not really more of my mood, but where I am going. However, the sexy dressing was me before. This time, I have learnt to balance things. I don’t do those dressing anymore. Those were then when I was growing up, but I am matured now. I am a grown woman, I am more mature and intelligent and more focused. Before, I know how I used to dress, but now I dress down because I have noticed that you are addressed as you are dressed. Covered is the new sexy. When you are covered you look heavenly, people see you and ask who is this madam? The saying “dress how you want to be addressed” is actually true, but because I was always against it I didn’t agree, but it’s really true. If you dress like a whore outside any kind of person would address you, but if you dress like an Alhaja the kind of people that will be around you will be very classy people. They won’t be able to talk to you because they don’t know you. If you dress corporately and you are covered you attract a different kind of people, matured people. But when you wear all those torn things that reveal all of your laps you get the opposite. So, sometimes you just have to cover it all. It is sexier when you are not showing anything. I have decided to stay away from those trashy clothes even if they are imported. It is only the ones that get to below the knee that I keep.
Do you regret that you once dressed like that?
No, I don’t regret that. The only thing that I regret are my tattoos. I don’t regret the way I used to dress. Those were my days of growing up. It was just me then. It was a phase. I don’t regret it.
You said you regret having your tattoos?
Yes. That is the only thing I regret.
What do you regret about your tattoos?
I regret everything. If I could wipe all of them off I will. If I can sleep and everything will be wiped off I will.
How many do you have?
I have six.
Do they mean anything to you?
No. I just put them there for fashion. Tattoo has a spirit, when you do one you will want to do another. It is hard to find a person with one tattoo. If you do one you will want to do another. At a point, after I did the one at my ankle I said to myself that this has to stop. The advice that you give to yourself is the one that will stick. When people told me to stop it I didn’t listen, but I told myself to stop because I knew I would keep going. Since I stopped I have never done another one.
Can you tell us about your tattoos?
I have one on my arm, it’s a leaf. On my neck is a falling star, while I have a flower on the back of my palm. The one on my cleavage is also a star. The one on my leg is difficult to describe it’s just a collection of circles. I have one on my waist, a flower.
Do you have any in a hidden place?
No I don’t. I wanted to do one around my waistline. I had a boyfriend and that was what he wanted then. But when I thought about it later I said thank God I didn’t do it.
Where did you want to place the tattoo then?
I wanted to have it beside my navel.
Nollywood has been witnessing a lot of crashed marriages in recent times, what do you think is causing this?
Nothing. I really don’t want to talk about that. However, whatever challenges any actor or actress is facing with their marriage God will take control. Left to me, I won’t say anything about it.
Are you not worried that marriages are crashing in your industry daily?
These things are not exclusive to the movie industry. I hope you know that. It happens everywhere, but I am not worried at all. I don’t want to talk about Nollywood marriages.
Let’s talk about your marriage then, when are you getting married?
I don’t know. It’s God. But I have a man in my life.
Are you enjoying the life of a single lady?
No I am not. I am tired. It’s actually tiring. I want to settle down now.
Have you found a man for that or has he found you?
I have a man in my life, but we are not talking marriage now. Marriage will come when it will come. I am ready.
So you can’t say if the man in your life is the one you will marry?
I have to pray about it. I can’t make the move. If he makes the move I will ask God if he is the man.
How do you relax?
You know that I am not really at home, so when I want to relax I stay at home. I relax with friends.
What is your beauty routine like?
I make sure I drink a lot of water. I wash my skin every night before going to bed. I never sleep with makeup and I make sure I do my facial every month.
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