December 09, (THEWILL) – Popular Nigerian actress, director, fashionista and businesswoman, Mercy Aigbe, recalled how she almost left the industry over sexual harassment.
During an episode of ‘Your Views’, a talk show on TVC, she said, “I once met a producer in Surulere, and I expressed to him how much I would love to act. He told me he had an upcoming film, and invited me to his office for an audition. I passed three stages of the audition. After the last audition, I was given a minor role. I told him that was not the character I was auditioning for, and he replied that the director said he did not know me, and that was why he said I should be close to him.
“He had been making passes at me before then, but he did not come out clean to me until that day. He then stood up and tried to touch me. I was very upset, and I told him he could not do that to me because I had earned the role. That was a huge insult to my person, and I thought if that was what it took to be an actress, I did not want to be an actress anymore. I tore the script and eventually left. On my way home, I cried because I had left a well-paying job to join Nollywood, and I was already a single mother at the time.”
She mentioned that despite facing other challenges in the industry, she reached the top through consistency.
