One of
Nollywood’s finest actresses, Kate Henshaw, has been around for
over a
decade and is still waxing stronger. Kate, who recently parted ways with
her husband of twelve years, has obviously moved on with life. In this
interview with Mercy Michael, the mother of one and former Glo
Ambassador, opened up on failed marriage. Kate, who is toast of
Nollywood producers, also explained her role in a new Nollywood
blockbuster, The Meeting, as well as the pains and gains of being
relevant in the movie industry. Excerpt:
WHAT is your relationship with your ex-husband?
We have our daughter, so we look after
her. We still talk about her. She’s part of us. She has to be taken care
of, so we talk concerning her and her welfare, everything concerning
her. There is no animosity really. It didn’t work, it didn’t work.
Single and beautiful, you must have loads of toasters. Any consideration for another marriage?
I’m not really looking for anybody right
now, but if it comes it comes, fine. I mean nobody ever says ‘oh! I
will never love again’, after all, even God gave us His son to love us.
You come across as happy-go-lucky lady. What could give you a low moment?
I am a happy-go-lucky person. But for
low moment, just generally, when life gets you down. The issue of the
breakup of my marriage, it will get anyone down. Having been through
twelve years, and you have plans for the future, and then everything
stops. But then, that’s life! Life hits you with different things. But
you move on or you stay down, it’s your choice.
You sound like you miss him. But the impression was that you wanted the divorce.
Yeah, I wanted it. It wasn’t working
anymore. It’s good to leave than to live together in rancor, with
hatred. Sooner or later it will affect my work. You people would say,
this girl, there is something wrong with her. If someone is not happy in
her home, you will know. It will show in her work, no two ways about
it.
Anybody meeting you is sure to ask about your beauty regime. What’s your beauty regime?
I was telling someone that maintenance
culture is very high, whether you like it or not. I work out in the gym
every day. This stature, I’m maintaining this beauty. Every day I work
out. I do a lot of weight training. I do aerobics. I do dancing. I do
Zunba. Anything that’s going to make me look good, I do it. I’m very,
very diligent in my exercise routine. I have my facial. I have massage. I
love massages. I love to rest. I love to travel. I eat right and I
leave the rest to papa God up there.
Talking about dancing, you were recently
part of a musical video. I saw you dancing the popular Etigi dance
style. Tell us about the experience?
That was really lovely. You see, those
are the kind of things that I like. Nobody expects me to do that kind of
thing. It will surprise people. Etigi is from my place. I’m from Cross
River. That’s our dance.
But most people don’t see me in that
light. It’s good to just put it out there and surprise people. The
concept of that video was…, they were shooting this musical video on the
street, and there was this woman, all dressed up for an o wa m be
party. The road is blocked and she was like what’s happening here, ‘oh!
People are dancing; let me show them that I can dance this dance more
than them.’ That’s what it was all about. I love the experience. I love
every bit of it.
Should your fans expect to see more of you in musical videos?
It depends, if it’s for a good cause. And of course I love JJC Skills. I love his music.
You also have lovely voice. At a point, I thought you were going to veer into music?
You people should leave me o. I don’t
want to disgrace myself. Acting is my strong point and I would stay
there. I don’t want to veer into something that…I might do a collabo I
mean, never say never. Maybe there is a collabo. You never know!
A lot of other actors are delving into
other areas like directing, producing and so on. Are you likely to go in
that direction too?
Well, I don’t know. Everyone doesn’t
really have to produce. Everyone doesn’t have to direct. Most people
want to remain as actors. Most people want to remain in front of the
camera. I’ve produced a documentary, the one for the Lagos State tax
advert. I shoot that for them as part of my contribution to bring into
the consciousness of Lagosians to pay their tax. I also did an advert
for the Akwa-Ibom State government, just little, little things…I’m more
of someone who can plan, organize stuff, so maybe as a producer, but
movi production is plenty money, Kai! The money is plenty.
As an actor who has been there for over a decade and still relevant, what’s the drive and staying power?
I think my ability to laugh at whatever
situation, to smile. People always comment on my smiling habit. It’s
like, ‘Kate do you ever have any problem? Do you ever get angry?’ Like I
said, I choose to be happy. I choose to wake everyday and say today I’m
going to be so happy. But people are going to wonder, ‘ha! Did you win
lottery?’ That’s the most positive attitude to go through life with.
Life is hard. Especially in Nigeria, it’s so hard. People don’t dress
like you.
People don’t have a roof over their
head. There are flood victims there. I was watching a woman on TV, she
said she and her husband struggled to build a house over two years and
now everything is gone. And look at me here. I’m grateful. I’m so, so
grateful.
Talking about the situation in the country, what are your thoughts about the four UNIPORT students that were brutally murdered?
It should be condemned. I didn’t want to
talk about it. But everyday, it’s like we sink lower into the ground as
human beings. Our humanity is totally lost as Nigerians. There are no
longer the days when you see somebody on the floor and you want to be a
Good Samaritan and help. Everybody will just stand and look. Nobody
wants to help anymore. Everybody is afraid for his life.
I watched that video and my heart just
turned cold. I was weeping, I still hear the sounds of the big stick on
the skulls of those boys. I wouldn’t advice anybody to watch it. But if
you can, do so that you will know what is going on. It’s just amazing
that students do not have enough accommodation in their surrounding,
that they have to go and get an off-campus location that is not even
secure. The security level is so low. Except you are in the townships or
select areas, the rest of the places, you don’t even know what’s going
on.
There is a new elected president for AGN. Do you think there is new era for AGN?
There is a new era. Hopefully and
prayerfully, I hope IB will turn things around for AGN. I mean without
the actors, really there isn’t any film. You can have your script, you
can have your production crew, but if there are no actors to interpret
what you’ve written down, then you don’t have a movie. We are like the
biggest body. There are people wanting to be actors. I get such calls
every day. She will have a 100 percent of my support if she can turn
things around and make us more unified. It is because we are not unified
that we are not where we should be.
We deserve to have a whole lot more. To
reap a whole lot more, better ourselves as a body. The Association of
Movie Producers (AMP) has sorted themselves out, music industry, comedy
and all of that. We need to get our acts together as Actor Guild of
Nigeria. Maybe one day we’ll have a woman president, the right one, not
the one that steals.
How do you mean?
I support women causes hundred percent.
But that’s women that are worthy of the cause. Any woman that disgraces
me, I will disgrace you back. I will shout. We’ve had women in
government who have disgraced us women. And they make us seem as if we
are not worthy, that we don’t deserve the post that we have. I’m an
ambassador for the Nigerian Women Trust Fund. And this trust fund was
set up to encourage and help women in their political ambitions.
So I’m glad to be part of that, and I do
believe that a woman deserves a chance. There is Ellen Johnson in
Liberia. We have a woman that is the Prime Minister of Australia. It is
possible, very possible. We are strong, women can do a whole lot. And
when their heart is in the right place, there is no going back.
There is Ibinabo now; there is Ema Ogugua, and there is Emeka Ike. Which of these sides do you belong to?
Ema Ogugua is on the Board of Trustees.
Ema Ogugua is no longer the AGN president. He was the president when it
was Nigeria Actors Guild (NAG). Ema is on the Board of Trustees. He has
nothing to do with being a president. Ibinabo is the president of AGN.
Emeka should join forces with her and let us stop this rancor. It
doesn’t make us look serious. People are laughing at us, everyday there
is strive in AGN, why? Emeka should drop whatever suit or case he has
and support IB.
I mean we are all colleagues. He should
marry whatever proposals or whatever ideas he has with hers, and they
should come to the table and everybody talk and we move forward. He
should drop his suit please. Enough is enough. I don’t want to say more
than that.
We’ve had like seven Blockbusters so far
in Nollywood since the reinvention of the cinema. I know you featured
in the soon-to-be-premiered The Meeting. Honestly, do you think it will
be part of the list of Blockbusters?
Yes, totally. I say to you, watch The
Meeting, and if you don’t like it, I will give you back your money.
That’s Kate saying that. End of story. Finish! I can’t say more than
that. And Rita is going to get award, I said it first.
Tell us about your role in the movie?
My name is Mrs. Ikomi in the movie.
She’s an executive, very nice lady, but she has some other parts to her
that you won’t expect from an executive. It’s a small role, but it’s a
role that I loved. The character is very funny and interesting. The
script was different. You need to watch it. It brings to light the
bureaucracy that goes on in our ministries. One, in our federal
parastatals and in that whole situation, two people meet and find love.
Is that your most challenging role so far?
Not for me. But I loved every bit of my
role. You cannot have the most challenging role. Depending on the movie,
you have different challenging roles.
Before now, you were not part of the Blockbuster movies that has come and gone in the cinema. Why?
I was part of Tango With Me. I was a doctor. It was a small role though.
You’ve played several roles. What’s the dream role for you?
Mad woman (laughs). A mad woman, I mean
someone who is sort of impaired physically. I want you to see me, and
you ask, ‘is that Kate?’ That’s the next role I’m waiting for.
Looking back, which is your most memorable role?
When the Sunset. My first movie, my very
first. I have it. I have a copy of all my movies. And once in a while, I
slot it in and watch. I also loved doing Stronger than pain, the one I
starred in with Nkem Owoh. That one was different for me. My character
was totally different. In the beginning, I was a bit doubtful.
No matter how many years you’ve spent as
an actor doing different roles, there are some roles that come, it
makes you doubtful. Can you do it? Will I be able to portray it so
convincingly that people will accept? When you do it, you get the
accolade; it makes it all worthwhile.
I’m going to take you back to your
experience on the set of your very first movie. How easy was it for you
coming from your background as a medical person?
It was hard. I was scared. The script
was thicker than a bible. I was with Franca Brown, Bob Manuel, K.O.K,
Ema Odokpai, the late Funmi Martins, Sandra Achums. These people, they
all started before me. It’say that’s when we really treasure doing
movies properly. It was like a big family. When you leave the set, it’s
like you’ve left a family and friends behind.
There was more attention to details. We
will have countless rehearsals to make sure that your character bonded. I
spent a lot of time with Bob Manuel. So much that people thought we
were dating. I spent a lot of time with him. He really was helpful.
Growing up, was acting what you always wanted to do?
I wanted to be a musician. Yes, I wanted
to sing. My father said, no way! Those useless people… I’m sure he’s
not saying that now. The late JT Tom West, I will always mention he’s
name, always be grateful to him, because he took me to my very first
audition. And if then, I didn’t know what they were doing. They said
they wanted somebody to come and cry. They didn’t give me a script,
nothing. They called me, Victoria Inyama, Rosemary Ona, we were like
four. They said, your sister told you she’s a prostitute, react. So it
just happened. After The Sunset, different people, started coming, ‘I
want you in this movie, I want you in that movie’.
What are the pains and gains of your career?
The pain is the press, I’m not
complaining though. It comes with the territory, like it or not. To the
credit of the Nigerian press, we are not even having it bad here like
Hollywood. Hollywood, they will come hang on your tree, check your
dustbin. What did you eat last time? For instance, look at Kate, the
wife of Prince Williams, they followed her to where she’s relaxing her
body with her husband. It’s not as if she was with another man. Her body
is all over the place. It comes with the territory. Once you are in the
limelight, there is nowhere to hide.
You must go through that fire. It’s
either it makes you stronger, makes you depress or it makes you say
‘hey! Let’s all go there!’ Then the gains, it goes without saying.
People want to do stuffs for you. You want to see somebody and nobody is
going to stop you. You meet people that ordinarily if you see them you
won’t even have access to them. The gains are just innumerable. I
remember going to the airport, and I was trying to buy some perfumes,
over at least 500 pounds worth. I was about to pay and one man said, you
are Kate Henshaw? I will pay for that. And the girl at the counter,
said, ‘do you know him?’ and I said know. And she said, ‘wow! I will
like someone to do that for me.’
You can’t be caught stereotyped. How were you able to achieve this feat?
You have to be picky. I don’t care what
anybody says, If the script comes and it’s the same thing, you tell them
‘can you not change it, I don’t think I want to do this.’ Because they
won’t do it for you, unless the person has foresight to say, ‘ok! I want
to see how Kate can manage herself in this role. I want to see if she’s
real?’ Most of the time, they will say, cry for me. How can I just be
crying for you? I mean I don’t cry all the time. I’m a happy person.
How do you like to unwind?
I relax. I hang out with friends.
Hear, See, and Say it
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