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.
Added 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 roles
The 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 because
I 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 – an affair that has since
ruptured.by chibabynaija2
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