Popular Nigerian actress, Mercy Aigbe Adeoti has narrated how she almost exited the film industry due to sexual harassment.
She narrated how a movie producer made advances at her after an audition, she went further to say that the producer rather gave her a different role instead of the role she was supposed to take.
During an interview with TVC’s ‘Your View‘, Mercy narrated that she later found out about his sexual interest afterwards.
In her words:
“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 (the producer).
“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.”
The actress assured her fans that she did not rise to the top by unclean means, rather, it was all her effort, devotion and consistency to her work.
