What is style to you?

Style to me is a personal thing. It’s a way of expressing yourself, especially the way you dress. How you want to be addressed. I always say one thing; look the way you want to be addressed. Style is a way of expressing yourself.
And to me it comes naturally. I have this thing about me, when I put this and this together, it turns out good and people will always compliment me for it. And to me, style is about comfort.
You have to be comfortable with what you are wearing. When you’ve passed a certain age, there are certain kinds of clothes you shouldn’t be wearing.
You don’t look your age. What is your beauty regime like?
That’s what everybody has been saying (giggles). They say you look way younger than your age. And when a lot of people meet my daughter, they marvel and ask, ‘are you sure she is your daughter?’
And I just smile and get swollen-headed, getting all those compliments. But as for my beauty regime, I feel I’ve been blessed.
Talking about hard work, a colleague of yours said that you are one actress who loves to work even when you are heavily pregnant…
The thing is that I love my job with a passion. My job makes me very happy. When I’m in front of the camera, I come alive. I’m happy when I’m working. Sometimes when I’m back home for like two weeks and I’m not back to location, I feel like, oh God! I need to go back to location. It’s just something that I derive a lot of joy from.
Then aside that, I’m very hard working. I like to make my own money. There is this pride that comes with making your own money. Fine, my husband is okay and all that, but there is this joy when I’m spending my own money.
And also, I like when I buy things for my kids with my personal money not all the time should one be hearing ‘daddy bought you this or daddy bought you that’.
Some people may want to call it pride, it’s not pride. But there is this satisfaction with you making your own money.
So it’s true that you work till you are heavily pregnant, like eight months?
No, I don’t work till I am eight months pregnant, but I think I stopped working when I was seven months and I was forced to stop working, I must tell you. My husband had to call my mother and said,” nothing bad must happen to my child o. I don’t know what your daughter is looking for! She has not asked me for anything and I said no, so I really don’t know what she’s looking for.’ He had to plead with me that, ‘sweetheart, please you need to stop working’. So I had to stop. But the truth is that I enjoyed working while pregnant because while I was pregnant, my tummy wasn’t all that big.
Sometime back you had a faceoff with a popular blogger accusing you of infidelity. How did you actually feel about it and could you just clear the air about the issue?
I have done that. I even took the pain of doing a video and all that. Even people were like, Mercy why did you go as far as doing a video just to clear the air? But, I tell you, we are in this society that you need to take the truth and put on the plate for people to see.
And I’m a married woman; I have in-laws to answer to. I’ve got kids. I’ve got a grown-up daughter who has friends in school, who would ask her questions regarding the issue.
So, I’m always very careful. I’m a mother and I wouldn’t want anything to affect my kids. A lot of people write bad things about me.
A lot of people write things about you and you just let it go, but the way she coated it, it was as if she was there. She wrote it as if she was there and she saw it happen. When I first read it, I was like I’m going to let it pass.
It’s one of those things; it comes with the job and all that. But when I saw that the story went viral, it was buzzing, everybody started calling me; my in-laws started calling me, asking questions. My fans were tweeting, asking me questions.
The story was so damaging. People advised me to ignore her because she’s known for that. But I knew I have my name to protect.
And I have my in-laws to answer to, so I needed to explain what really happened. I actually wanted to sue her, but people advised me to just leave her.
It was then that I got to know that she’s not even in Nigeria. So I was like, how could someone call you and tell you something?
You should have even called me too. So that when you write the story, you would also be reporting my own side of the story. It shouldn’t be one-sided.
Someone should not just call you and tell you this and this happened and you will just go ahead and report it, without getting in contact with me or the organizers of the event. She didn’t. So I just had to come out and clear the air.
Be honest, did you have any issues with your husband after the incident?
I never had any issues with my husband.
There is no way I could have any issues. I never had any issues with my husband before the incident and after then I never had any issues with my husband. Although, my husband was shocked at the way the person cooked up the story and he was really touched. But again, he saw it as the price to pay for marrying an actress.
You said a lot of your fans wanted to know what happened. How did that make you feel?
The event actually made me know that I was loved. A lot people called me and they told me to just go ahead with my work and my family. I was touched. I got a particular call that moved me to tears because the woman was so emotional and passionate with the way she was talking. She said, “Mercy, you shouldn’t have done the video.
You don’t have to explain to anybody. What is her business? I’m a married woman too and I understand. Why would you do that when you are not mad?” She went ahead to say, “When I read the story, I knew it just didn’t add up.
You are a celebrity. Even if you have mental problem, there was no way you could have done that”. I can actually say now that the story came as a blessing in disguise. A lot of people, out of compassion, encouraged me.
Is that the worst thing that has been written about you?
Yes, it is. And I don’t know where that story came from.
You said recently that you wished your second marriage was actually your first. Can you shed more light on this?
Yes, because I’m married to a very wonderful person and I’ve always been this kind of girl that believes that it’s how you want your life to be that’s how your life will be. I didn’t know that there is something called fate.
I didn’t know that fate can actually twist your plans at the end of the day, it twisted it for good but it’s always a regret because that is not how you actually wanted it. I would have just loved to marry my present husband and have my kids, but it’s okay.
Is it true that celebrity marriages are the most difficult to sustain? How have you handled yours?
The thing is that, marital problems are not peculiar to the entertainment industry. It’s everywhere. Marriages, these days, are not like those days.
A lot of things that our mother took and our fathers took; we women and men of these days will not take it. So, it’s not synonymous to we entertainers.
But what I have done, this is my second shot at it and I’ve taken it to God. I believe that marriage is a union ordained by God and I’ve decided to take my marriage to God so that He actually helps me. I think He’s the only one who can give me the grace because the bible says a wise woman builds her home. And that wisdom actually comes from God.
It’s not easy. It takes a lot of patience and prayers. I’ve made prayer the foundation of my marriage. So I’ve just taken everything to God, and in my own little way, I’m trying to be the best woman my husband can ever wish for.
We’ve seen you on English soap operas, when are you going to star in an English movie?
Everybody is always asking why I am not doing English movies. But I really don’t know. Maybe it’s not yet time. It’s not that I don’t get invited by English producers, but most of the time; I’m always on location shooting.
By the time they’ll give me a date, I would have been already occupied. I just believe that probably it’s not yet time because I actually started with the English movies before I moved to the Yoruba. So, I just feel it’s not yet time.
And I really don’t see myself as a Yoruba actress, I see myself as a Nollywood actress. It’s just the medium that is different. I can easily go in and out. I’m a professional. I actually studied Theatre Arts in the university.
You are an entrepreneur, you run your husband’s business, you produce and you act. How do you joggle all that?
It’s not easy to marry these very important roles together. It’s a lot of hard work, sometimes I ask myself if I can go on because I have to spend time with my husband; I have to spend time with my children.
I have a lounge; I run my husband’s hotel… But, somehow, I’m just able to do these things. But it still boils down to the fact that I have a very loving and understanding man. You see, when you have an understanding man, it makes the job easier.
After you had your last child, how long did it take you to go back on set?
I think when my son was two or three months.
I was so bored at home. But I got myself busy going to the gym, but I couldn’t wait to get back on location.
What’s the craziest thing a fan has done to you?
I remember an occasion a guy came up to me and I was with my husband and he asked me to sign on his chest. I was so embarrassed.
But did you sign it?
No, I didn’t. I just kept laughing and laughing, I just couldn’t do it.
How do you unwind?
I love watching movies and taking my kids oript>
What was the last movie you watched?
I can’t remember. When I’m home I just watch films with my kids.
Among lots of roles you’ve played, what is that role that is so dear to your heart?
I think it’s my movie, Osas. You ask why? That movie allowed me to actually speak my Benin language and speak the Pidgin language.
I love to speak Pidgin language. And it also allowed me to speak Yoruba language. So it allowed me to speak the three languages I love so much.
And Osas was the major comedy character I played. I never knew I could be funny. Yes, then I did Papa Ajasco’s wife and that was where I actually got inspired to do my movie.
In acting, do you have any limitations?
Yes I do, I can never act nude. And it doesn’t even come with the job. You choose to.