By Ekerete Udoh
My interview with top
Ghanaian actress – Yvonne Nelson-was a revelation in so many ways. Of the
leading Nollywood stars, Yvonne is among those I had not had a close
relationship with.I had watched her from afar, seen countless number of her
movies and had always thought she was a great and talented actress – someone
who combined poise, beauty and style. I had also heard of some unsavory things
ascribed to her – the rumors of sexual orientation which some say verged
between pure lesbianism and bi-sexualism – all manner of shenanigans that had
been whispered and published about her.Some years ago, she came out with a
movie, “Heart of Men”, in which she seemed to have appeared in frontal nudity–
a development that set off a firestorm of protest among Nollywood lovers –with
many condemning the exploitation of graphic sexual images to promote and sell
movies – which was a deviation of what Nollywood had always been seen to
represent: a family friendly entertainment medium.Yvonne NelsonAdded to an
alleged fight for supremacy between her and fellow Ghanaian actress – Jackie
Appiah – a development that was said to have resulted in her much publicized
one-year ban from Nollywood- you begin to have a profile of an actress who may
come across as a diva and somewhat opinionated.It was with mindset that I
welcomed the chance to interview Yvonne Nelson, when her representative called
and informed me that the pretty actress was in New York, and would love to talk
to me. And so, on the balmy and unseasonably warm evening of March, 2012,I
drove to the Marriot Hotel located at the heart of Times Square, Manhattan,
where she was staying, to do this interview.Bad girl rolesThe first revelation
was that Yvonne Nelson is an exceedingly pretty actress –far prettier in real
life than in her movies. Second, she is a far cry from those bad girl roles she
plays in movies. Yvonne neither smokes nor drinks. An offer of drinks from me
was flatly but graciously rejected. Her depiction as a diva also felt flat
because the Yvonne that I saw and interviewed was thoroughly grounded and even
shy.So why all the misconceptions?, I asked her. In a diction and vocal cadence
that showed a highly educated and urbane mind, Yvonne told me she had been
hugely misunderstood. “That is why I am willing to address some of those
misconceptions now. Even though it pains me to have to talk about them, but I
will. I am nothing close to the roles I play in movies. People should
understand that I am an actresses and I get scripts that expect me to act in a
certain manner. As a consummate professional, I am not going to turn down those
scripts becauseI was expected to act in a certain manner,”she said. “I am aware
that some people took exception to the role I played in the movie “Heart of
Men” where there appeared to be some form of frontal nudity, but the truth of
the matter is that there was no such overt display of nudity. But let’s even
for the sake of argument say there was some nudity, why are we so judgmental
and somewhat hypocritical?The same people who took issues with that movie watch
Hollywood movies where sexually graphic scenes are shown in a most morally
appalling manner. We don’t condemn such roles; we, as a matter of fact,
celebrate such roles. I am not an advocate of nudity or sexually graphic images
in our movies. I have actually spoken against some of those tendencies; I will
never appear frontally nude in any movie no matter the fees promised.“I have
morals and my morals are held closely to my chest. As you may recall, I was not
the only person in that scene; there were others, and I am always at a loss
when my role appeared to have been the one that garnered the most reaction. If
you have been following the industry, which I believe you do, overt resort to
nudity has been greatly reduced. It was a phase-one that was experimented by
some producers and realizing that it ran counter to the values that Nollywood
orGallywood espoused, the producers went back to doing stories that are heavy
on family values.”One of the rumors that dominated the industry, last year, was
one that centered on her sexual orientation. It was widely speculated that
Yvonne Nelson was a lesbian or, at best, a bi-sexual. Until this moment, Yvonne
had not commented on that rumor and when I asked her what her real sexual
orientation was, she looked me straight in the eye and said “look at me….what
do you think? Of course, I am not a lesbian.Lesbianism is against my religious
beliefs, it’s against my cultural norms and I think it was very mischievous for
people to insinuate such about someone they hardly knew. The rumor was started
by a notorious website in Ghana last year when they reported that they had never
seen me with a man. In their warped and twisted calculation, I was thus a
lesbian. Can you imagine such crass reasoning?That they had not seen me with a
man, and may have seen me with my girlfriends going out to have fun, and then
automatically I was a lesbian. It was a hatchet job – an attempt to discredit
me, but they all failed. I am heterosexual and would remain one till the end.
When you are in the public light as I have been blessed and privileged to
being, your life becomes a public property and some mischievous people will say
all manner of things about you. It comes with the territory, so I forgive
them.”‘Jim Iyke and I’Sometime ago, it was also reported that Yvonne was in
involved in a hot romance with Nollywood actor – Jim Iyke. Jim Iyke then was
hot and heavy with the Jamaican model – Ketura Hamilton
Source:Vanguard
Newspaper
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