How my mother nearly foiled my acting career — Foluke

ONE of Nigeria’s cross-over actresses, Foluke Daramola, has revealed that at the outset of her acting career, her mother, a widow, was not comfortable with it because of her aversion for negative publicity.        
“Her philosophy was that with the media, you had no private life of your own; all eyes, including your enemies’, would be on you,” she revealed.
Being a reverend woman, Mrs. Aderonke Daramola had enough grounds for her fears. In 1981, she lost her husband and was left to fend for four kids. 
Though young and attractive, she refused to re-marry maintaining that marriage to another man would not give her the time to take ample care of her children.         
“The sacrifice was not for her late husband but for her kids. So, she wanted to protect us by all means,” Folake said in a recent edition of the celebrity Supermom show.
Thus, when she discovered that her beloved daughter had started acting at a most impressionable age, she was infuriated. 
According to Foluke, “My mum is a very conservative person and so never wanted any unnecessary attention and bad comments about any of her children. She would always say you’re not born to do this thing, I don’t want you to do it.” 
When she realised Foluke was acting behind her back, she beat her up and even cut her hair. As years went by, however, and with acting making Foluke famous around the neighbourhood and beyond, Mrs. Daramola’s steely resolve began to soften. But she made her promise never to go nude on screen or worship another god except the Almighty God. Folake has kept to her promise.
Sharing the spotlight with Foluke this week is Empire Mates Entertainment rapper and debutant, Raoul John Njeng Njeng, popularly known as Skales. And the young man sure has a tearjerker for a story.         
At age eight, his father abandoned home, leaving mother and son without even a roof over their heads. Almost overnight, they transited from a comfortable and happy family to a homeless and vagrant transition family abandoned by its breadwinner. 
His youthful mother resorted to petty trading in the day while they retired to an abandoned garage at night. This, mother and son did until they finally got a place to stay for a while. 
“She sold sugar cane, bread and did menial jobs in people’s but she gave me the best of everything I needed,” he said. 
When Skales began his music career, his mum was his greatest fan and never discouraged him. No wonder he dedicated his victory at the regional Zain Tru Search Talent Hunt competition in 2008 to his mother.

Author of this article: BY CHUKS NWANNE