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Monday 8 August 2011

The Mercy Johnson I know


By Richard Odilu

When I first knew the alleged dreaded seductress was so many years back, during my undergraduate years, when I watched on video her brilliant performance as a possessed maid in the Kenneth Nnebue (NEK Video Links) movie ‘The Maid’, and I have followed the success of her screen career ever since. My friends and I talked about her non-stop: forty percent was about her acting prowess and the other sixty was devoted to her voluptuous image. Over the years I have gotten to know that she is a home wrecker, a bitch, harlot, witch, she has a fast finger, and destroyer of pleasant relationships. All these are allegations I read in some soft-sell magazines but I never lost sight of her talent, she really is an amazing talent. Like the biblical Nicodemus, I took in what I read with a pinch of salt. That is she is innocent until proven guilty. But sometimes I am nudged by the over-used adage ‘that there is no smoke without fire’.

Are the write-ups and gossips about her mere rumor - the devices of haters and spoilers of anything beautiful – or are they true portrayal of what she has always been?

The opportunity to confirm or disprove these rumors presented itself when I booked an appointment with her for my column ‘What were you thinking?’ in Y! Magazines second edition. Oh boy! Like most superstars would I was played like a football left-right-center until it dawned on her I wasn’t letting go until I achieved my aim, and the interview finally happened in a very private guest house tucked in Omole Phase One. Had I know she would have come by almost seven pm then I would have gone there by six-thirty pm disregarding the three o’clock appointment she gave me. My patience almost ran out as I kept checking in with her publicist, as I did not have her direct contact at the time, to be sure the interview would hold still. But when she showed up, I eased up easily, forgetting that I had sat waiting for her royal highness for almost three hours.

Her arrival was without pomp and pageantry, like I expected, and she wasn’t dressed like a harlot either, like some of my friends whom I already hinted about the proposed interview anticipated. Then when she walked up to me to inquire if I was the journalist she was supposed to meet with – how did she know I was a journalist, is it written on the face – with an apology I’d assure you wasn’t pre-rehearsed, my opinion about her changed, as I did a mental re-arrangement of the questions to ask.

Yes! The questions changed but they got harder and she did not dodge any of them, neither was she in haste to leave. From her scandalous dressing, to seduction, to bed hopping, to marriage, to witch-craft, she answered everything. There were moments we shared some laughter and moments when I thought I saw tears at the corner of her eyes. I saw the human behind the alleged Dracula. It appeared I was doing a show on TV as her companion, a very lively lady, listened with rapt attention and an elderly man nearby puts in a word or two unsolicited. Even when I stopped, having quizzed her for almost an hour, she still wanted me to go on, and commented that she did not feel like she was been interviewed. To her we were two friends just having a tête-à-tête. She got me asking why people labeled her everything bad if she was this homely, and yes! She reads everything written about her, and some of the reports, she alleged were unconfirmed made her cry. When I asked her about her relationship with Genevieve, the glow that radiated from her will make you think that was the person who gave her life.

Finally I told her I had to leave and she insisted on dropping me at the nearest bus-stop where I may board a vehicle, and gave me her private number with the promise that I text or flash her when I get home, that way she would know I arrived safely. I texted her by almost 11pm and her response was swift. I slept thinking if that was her real person or if she was putting up a show for good publicity, but whatever that was about I believed it, and until she does otherwise she remains the proverbial dog whom people call names just so they could hang it.

2 comments:

  1. A remarkable story that I perceive could clear someone off a "guilty as charged" litigation, but having crossed the boundaries of almost all global entertainment industries, my perception to this verdict towards a defensive stand point would be that you continuously have a follow up on your defendant. Stopping at this junction will be certainly a "tap-turned off" to all her critics. I must admit that the interview from your constructive lay-out was a success but may have appeared bought off in a critical mind set and game-off most celebrities as it is even out here in the Hollywood Entertainment Industry.
    It is my joy to see celebrities live a normal life behind their personal roles in films; but, that said, "the price of fame is an illness to ones life". Until that fact can be changed, I look forward to more of your daring encounters with celebrities both on and off the screen.

    XP E-Mag Rating: B+

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  2. Thank you Ocean that you have find time to go through my blog. I am a critic myself, but not without worthy facts. And to your request - expect more posts and updates of my encounters with celebrities ... Cheers

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