Producers' persistent sexual harassment nearly drove me to give up acting -Mercy Aigbe

Nollywood actress Mercy Aigbe has revealed that she was on the verge of giving up her acting career in the Nigerian film industry due to constant sexual harassment from specific producers.

Producers' persistent sexual harassment nearly drove me to give up acting -Mercy Aigbe

The actress, who is renowned for her outstanding roles in motion pictures, talked about her traumatic experiences while appearing on TVC's chat program "Your View."

She related a particularly unsettling experience she had with a Surulere producer who, although giving her a part in a forthcoming movie following a good audition, crossed lines that left her feeling very uneasy. 

She stated: "After I had passed three stages of the audition, I was given a minor role, which I told him that was not the character I was auditioning for."He retorted that the director said he didn't know me, which is why he desired for us to get close," she related.

She continued by describing the upsetting instance when the producer approached her without permission and stood up to touch her.

She said, "I was very upset, and I thought if that was what it took to be an actress, I don't want to be an actress anymore," expressing her displeasure at the circumstances. I fled after tearing the script."

The actress went on to talk about how this incident affected her emotionally, saying that she sobbed on the way home because, at the time, she had already been a single mother and had quit a lucrative career to follow her passion in Nollywood.