“I allowed Nkem Owoh to touch my breast because the movie needed to look real” – Anita Joseph

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 By DAMILOLA SHOLOLA

Anita Joseph is a gifted Nollywood actress known mostly on her  controversial nature. The actress has over the  years grown a heavy skin to criticisms and wants people to know  that she's in the movie industry to be an actress in the actual sense of the word.  She's the power excel in just about any role she's assigned and she is a good os of source of entertainment for a lot of fans. In this encounter with Showtime celebrity Anita opens through to her music and movie career viv-a-vis other conditions:

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What have you been up to?

Work work work… Movies and music but I’m still recording

How many movies have you done so far?

The one that just came out is Akpabio, the Calabar Boy.   Then,   there’s Hips Don’t Lie, Festival of Village Girls, Wannabe Girls, Who runs the Village, Twins Blood, and lots of others. I can’t really count.
What is your style of music?

I do Hip-hop, I do slow songs, blues, I do every kind of music

Which songs have you released this year?

I’ve done Long Time and Go Gaga

Have you featured any artiste in your songs?

In ‘Nyem Something’ I featured Flavour. The video came out two years ago

You and Afrocandy were recently seen together, are you guys doing a movie?

Yes, we are. We’ve not done the job yet. She just did an audition and I was invited over to help in the casting. We did an audition at Excellence Hotel so I went there to help her cast and I’m part of the movie too

Is it a p0rn movie?

God forbid. It’s an African movie. Afrocandy does other movies too. The one she’s going to do soon is an epic movie like a village kind of movie. Then the other one is another kind of movie, we call it Glamour.

Glamour is the one you have many rich people but the epic is the village one. It’s not a porn movie, don’t mind what people are saying. I assure you it is not porn. Anita cannot do porn. You know why I can’t do porn? Because the money will finish but the movie won’t go.

It’s not something I would like to do. Everybody in life has what he or she wants to do. I don’t care what anybody does. Some people say you’re friends with Afrocandy and all that, So What?

Do you believe Nigerians are hypocritical about sex?

Oh yes they are, some of them do worse things behind closed doors. So don’t judge me. I do what I want to do but I can’t do porn. Anita is crazy, Anita is this, Anita is that, but I can’t do porn. There are some kinds of things I can’t do. If I’m doing business with Afrocandy, it’s movie business not porn and it’s my business. Nobody has the right to tell me I shouldn’t do it because she’s this, she’s that.   That’s their business.

Can you do sex in a movie?
No, I can’t

Not even kissing?

That’s a normal thing. There’s a way we do kissing in the movie industry, we don’t really do the real kissing but there’s a way we do it. It’s acting.

There was a movie I saw you,where Nkem Owoh was touching your boobs, what movie was that?

That movie was The Gamblers. In the script, they said he was supposed to touch my breasts; we have to make it real so I gave him my breast to touch and that thing blew people’s minds. That was the whole idea, he touched it for real.

Have you done any other stuff like that?

I do lots of stuffs like that. It doesn’t matter; it’s the kind of job I do, so it depends. It depends on what the script says, sometimes you just have to pretend to be there. Its pretense, Acting is all about pretense.

Which actor do you have chemistry working with?

I have chemistry working with everybody but there are some people you work better with, lots of them. If I start mentioning the names, you won’t leave here

What do you consider the sexiest part of your body?

Everywhere is sexy because everybody has what trips him or her. Some like the boobs, some like the back, some like my legs, I’ve seen somebody that loves my palm. My fingers are very sexy

You say you love tattoos, how many tattoos do you have?

I used to love tattoos. But I don’t do tattoos anymore and I’m trying to remove them. I’m not a tattoo freak anymore; I’ve grown out of that. In fact the tattoos on my body are mistakes. I advise people not to do tattoos. Tattoos are addictive. If you do one you want to do another, at the end of the day you’ll start regretting them. I don’t love my tattoos anymore. I wish I can clean them out.

Where is the most hidden place you’ve done a tattoo?

No hidden place, the most hidden one is the one on my waist and on my boobs

What do you find attractive in a man?

I love men that are simple. I don’t like men that are too loud, I love it simple

When did you get into music?

I started music professionally four years back but I’ve not released an album yet. I’ve not really been serious with my music because the movies took over but I’ve released two videos, Time No Dey and Nyem something

Are you currently in a relationship?

I’m single and not searching

Have you ever done a movie outside Nigeria?
Yes, I have, in South Africa. I did the movie last year but it’s not out yet

They’re not easy to handle but I handle them well enough. In this kind of job, you have to be strong and bold because if you’re not, they’ll just mess you up. So, I handle them perfectly. I try not to be insulting in as much as some of them are very unbearable. Those that are unbearable, you just try and be subtle and manage them with a good smile.How do you handle your male admirers?

What of your critics?

I love my critics because if they don’t criticise me, I won’t get better

Do you take to their advice?

I do listen but some of them don’t make sense. Some of them are beef, maybe it’s somebody that doesn’t like you, you didn’t do anything to the person but the person doesn’t just like you. They did it to Jesus Christ.

He didn’t do anything to them but some people hated him, so it happens.

Sometimes when you read some things you know that it’s just beef. You might not know the person but the person is beefing you.   I don’t care about what they say.   What I care about is I take from the ones that are good, I try to amend what is not right but the ones that I know that I’m doing right, I don’t bother

What is the craziest thing a fan has ever done when he saw you?

Hitting my bum. Someone has seen me in Shoprite before, hit my bum and ran away. There was nothing I could do. There was a movie I did Open and Close. I was a nymphomaniac in that movie, I had sex with everybody around me because it was the story. The guy said that thing you did in Open and Close, can you just do it to me? He started whining in Shoprite, mimicking everything I did in the movie, the way I was doing. I just turned to leave and the next thing he did was to tap my ass. I wanted to pursue him but I wore heels so I couldn’t pursue him.

If it were before, I would have chased him all the way. Another day someone called me and started moaning ‘Anita you’re killing me, Anita whine for me’, I said hello, he said ‘Oh please, it’s me please you don’t understand’. It was one of my pictures he saw. He uses my pictures to work on himself and he told me. Mostly he uses private numbers to call me so I wouldn’t be able to call back. That ‘s why I sometimes don’t pick private numbers.

What is the craziest thing you have done to a fan ?

There was this crazy guy that got my number from somewhere. This guy sends me message everyday of my life, everyday. Telling me how he loves me and how he wants to marry me, till date. At a point I had to call him and invited him over. I mean this guy has been sending me messages for more than two years straight, everyday.

My sisters, everybody in my house knows about it. One day I decided to invite him   over but when I came out to receive him, he was nowhere to be found. He later called that he could not face me.

What is the worst scandal of your life?

There was a time I was in South Africa, they wrote something about me that an Alhaji and I were getting married in America. It wasn’t true, I was in South Africa and they said I was in America. Then I was working in South Africa. They said that I went to his office and his wife saw me in the office and embarrassed me. They said me and the wife got into a fight, that people had to come to separate us. I had a relationship and I was very heartbroken. I’ve had lots of them like that. Some people actually believed that story but there was a mix up. That story shattered me at the time.

Why did you refuse a marriage proposal from your boyfriend

A man cannot just come out and tell me to stop what I’m doing because he wants to marry me. I’m not desperate for marriage. Marriage will come when it will come. My man will come when it’s the right time for him to appear. When my husband comes, he won’t tell me to stop what I’m doing. My husband would be my fan and love what I’m doing, my husband would encourage me.

Your boyfriend was telling you to leave acting for him?

Yes, and become a complete housewife. I’m an Anambra girl, we don’t do like that. We’re hardworking women. That’s the kind of blood I’m born with; I can’t just leave what I’m doing. Marriage is not a do or die affair

What about dating Senators, Governors and Politicians, is it true or false?

I have friends all over. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re dating the person but you know how the world is, if they see you with someone or you’re friends with someone, they conclude you’re dating the person.

What more should people expect from you?

Lots of new things, it would be a surprise package.