Her name is Tonto Dikeh, she’s still single but wants a baby. “I wish
I have one (baby), so I could stroll with the baby right now.” This is
the true confession of Nollywood controversial actress and the 2005
runner up of the TV reality show, Next Movie Star, Tonto Dikeh.
The
fair-complexion charming thespian who set tongues wagging with her
incendiary performance in Kingsley Okereke’s soft porn flick, Dirty
Secret in 2009 in a recent interview opened up on why she’s regretting
for not having a baby by now.
Excerpts
Who I am
Tonto
Dikeh is a simple girl. I love trying new things. I love to make
mistakes, and it makes me learn. I love to make my mistakes my kind of
way, and that is just me.
I love to make mistakes because I learn
from them, and when I mean mistakes, it is not like I see a mistake and I
would want to make them and do them. But when it comes I learn from
them.
My favourite mistake
Talking about
having a child early, I just see a lot of my friends these days and they
have kids and the kids are almost half their heights, strolling and
shopping together, it is a cute idea, but that is not a mistake, and it
is just the only thing I just regret.
No, it does not bother me at
all. It is a thing of joy. I am happy for them, I am just happy. I don’t
have much of female friends, but I am sure some of them just cope well
and I don’t judge them. It doesn’t mean I am scared, not being ready is
not being scared. I wish I have one (baby), so I could stroll with the
baby right now.
Marriage
For now, I have no
plans, I just concentrate on my work, do the best that I can do and
make myself happy, along the line, that could come in, for now, it is
not what I am looking forward to.
I think irrespective of your
profession you can keep a healthy relationship or marriage. Being a star
does not limit the happiness you get from them, it depends on the way
you carry it or handle it. But if you ask me, I would tell you, it
contributes a lot to a large percentage of broken home, because you are
famous, and probably the person is not famous. Maybe because she stays
out late, because of her work, she travels so much, all these can
actually bring strains to the marriage or relationship. Like I would
always say, marriage is an institution where you have to learn, you have
to sacrifice to do a lot of things. You have to come to an agreement
with your partner. But all the same, you can be a celebrity and have a
healthy marriage.
Breakups of Nollywood marriages
Lack
of good communication and commitment are what kills a relationship. You
need good talking relationship and understanding. At the end of the
day, that is one thing, good communication, if I cannot relate to you
and you cannot relate with me, if I cannot pass my message to you, if I
cannot tell you the reason I have to go and shoot, and if you cannot
give me a good reason I cannot go and shoot, then things won’t be easy.
So, I feel communication is like a rope that ties two people in a
relationship.
What do you think about Kate Henshaw and Tchidi Chikere’s marital crises?
You
know what different individuals with different problems. The truth is, I
am not even sure it is true, it can be a rumour. I have not heard from
my friends yet, if I have heard from them, I can confirm. I think I
heard about Kate Henshaw’s case but I am not sure. It was what people
have been saying.
My relationship with Tchidi Chikere
It
has always been a rumour, it has been there for years and it will
always go on I think. He is my friend, like I said I don’t even know
about that story.
I don’t simply know about his divorce story please.
I don’t have any advice for anyone. I am not in their positions; I am
not worthy to give them any advice, because I am not married.
Handling bad press
I
just think I am careless about all those things. I have always been at
the centre of attraction. But you get used to it after a while, then
nothing bothers you again. I don’t even bother to read about them again.
I just hear it, people tell me. ‘Oh they said this again or they said
that.’
It has not been painful for a long time now, I have stop listening for a long time too.
What has been the secret of that transition?
Loving
yourself more and appreciating who you are and what you do. I think of
it this way: if I am not an actress I won’t be as popular as I am, so I
appreciate that. I try to work more, get more success out of it, and
that is it.
How I started
I think it was my
third year in the university when I had contacts from the Next movie
Star show, that was when the thought that probably I can do this also
began. I have always seen people on TV, especially Rita Dominic, and I
will be like, well, I like them. I like the way they dress, I like the
way they talk, so I have said I could do it, then when that opportunity
came in I grabbed it.
I used to be among an organisation where we do
stage films, but I never really got to do a stage play with them, but
as a child, I could remember myself doing one or two children drama
probably in school or in church, but I can’t really remember.
My dad and I
Yes,
he is my favourite because he is the only one alive. I never knew my
mother, she died while I was young, I think I was two years or so.
Growing up
It
was very beautiful, I had a lot of love around me, I had my
grandmother, I had my father’s and mother’s friends around, it was so
good. I think I had the best childhood.
Future plans
I
have a lot of dreams, I really have a lot of them, but it is not
something I would really want to talk about, because they are projects I
am trying to work on. But it is going to be in the open very soon. As
for now, I am working on a movie, My Life My Damage, which is a movie I
am co-producing with Uche Jombo, we are going to do a tour, then the
premiere, before putting it in a cinemas. We have done the movie, we are
actually laying the soundtrack, in fact, we have finished everything.