Sandra Okunzuwa, a Nollywood actress and producer whose film Enitan will be shown at the African Film Festival (Afriff), has spoken about how she was s3xually molested as a young child.
Sandra Okunzuwa, an Edo State indigene in a recent interview said, “I was s3xually abused as a kid and suffered mental health issues too.”
“In the society we live in, people don’t talk about mental health issues a lot, they expect you to visit your pastor and you will be alright. Moreso, as an actor it’s not easy.”
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“First you will have to embody the lives of diffrent characters and personalities good bad and the terrible.”
“Despite what you are going through personally, you have to wear a smile and keep entertaining people because that’s what people expect from you.”
” I personally think that there should be a special therapist for Entertainers because it’s not easy.
“Back to me being s3xually abused as a kid, even as a grown woman, fully aware of my rights, I couldn’t confront my abuser because it would be generalized and I’ll be stigmatized.”
The difficulties Sandra Okunzuwa had playing Enitan
In order to provide more light on Enitan, a film that also deals with sexual assault, Sandra Okunzuwa, who performed the lead part, lamented the difficulties she faced while producing the film.
“Enitan is a story about a young married woman who doesn’t get sexual satisfaction from her loving husband alone.”
“She goes out every night to look for area boys to gang rape her for her to feel satisfied sexually.”
“This continuous until her husband caught her and the story began to unveil.”
“As the lead character, I went through a lot physically, mentally and sexually.”
“It was a challenging role for me. In the process of filming the character, I had to work with real area boys and it wasn’t easy.”
“I had to put myself completely in enitan’s shoes. I had to visit different spiritualist for cleansing.”