In a recent chat with City People Magazine,
mercy Johnson talks about the first time she met Nollywood icon, Genevieve Nnaji and the rumoured beef between the actresses.
Read excerpts below..
On the first time they met
Ahh! The first time I met her, my friend took
me there. When we got to where she was, I became nervous. I told my friend “no let me
hide in your boot.” And I did. I got into her
boot. (laughs) Can you imagine I came to see her and when I got there I wanted to run back. I jumped into my friends boot. So, when she came out of the hotel, I could not see her, I could only hear her voice. The 2nd time I saw her was on set. When she came down and I met her she said ahh!
Mercy I like your movies and I started crying. I was in tears of joy. I said Aunty Genevieve, so you watch my movies. She was sort of embarrassed. Before I met her, she had already known that there was somebody who was crazily insane about her.
She was really nice to me, receptive. And
even whenever we work together she will
correct me and say that thing you did, you
could have done it this way.
Usually, in life, you will know somebody,
who is more than you. Give him or her that
respect. You can’t fight a battle you can’t
win. It does not make any sense. If somebody is much more than you, there is
nothing as big as you admitting it, and
hearing from that person. I didn’t come into
the picture to compete with anybody. I
didn’t come into the picture to rub shoulders or outshine anybody. I came to learn, do it well, make it and be there.
On stories of their rumoured beef
I really don’t know. I love Genevieve a lot. Growing up I discovered myself on time, I got to know my potentials. I got to know my weaknesses and I respected them. So, I didn’t really look at anybody as a threat, because the field is big enough. It is so large. All you have to do is make your footprint matter and people will come.
You don’t force the fans to like you. In my
entire career nobody for me has been worth
my distraction or was enough to be a competition for me. It is do your thing I do
my thing. We have different physiques,
different voices. Let the fans choose, who
does it better. It is only those who don’t
know the meaning of self-realization that will
begin to see someone as a threat.
I never did see anybody as a threat. I saw
my seniors as a pathway for me to learn
from, not as a threat. I didn’t come into the
industry because I wanted to take over from
them, because there is no movie I will do
that will measure up to what they had done.
There is no acting I will act today that Genevieve has not acted. So, it was more
like I want to learn from you, and I want to
better myself for me, not because I want to
edge you out. The industry is so large that
only one person can’t occupy it.
It is when you don’t understand who you
are, when you have not realized self
actualization, you don’t know who you are,
that is when you begin to see people as a
threat, or as a competitor. That came up at
a point in my career. It came up and it even
made me stronger and bigger. Nobody was
actually worth my distraction, or strong
enough to be a competition for me.
