TWO YEARS AFTER, NOLLYWOOD STAR STEPHANIE RETURNS
ABOUT two years ago, screen goddess and Nollywood star Stephanie Okereke vanished from the movie skyline due to a ghastly motor accident that affected her limbs. She was going to attend the annual AMAA awards.
She is back to reclaim her position in Nollywood. At an interactive session with journalists in Lagos recently, she thanked God for sparing her life in that fatal accident that had wanted to cut short her career. " I want to appreciate what the Lord has done in my life for the fact that I am still alive, but I want to tell my fans out there that Steph is back and to get to her peak, indeed it was God that really saved me. For some people, just a little thing would happen to them and they are gone, I had a terrible accident, I was bedridden, my face was ripped off and I had a broken leg too, but every thing is come back to normal now".
The pretty actress said that people believed that nemesis was catching up with her based on the fact that she had stepped on toes, but she reiterated that she is a responsible person and hopes to do a lot of positive and responsible things in the future, "I don't want my reputation to be messed with".
She believes that her absence in the industry is temporal and even though she had not achieved anything this year, the fact that she was still alive and she can walk without any form of support is enough for her to be happy and bubbling.
Stephanie had used a stone to kill two birds, as during her stay in the United States of America (USA) for medical treatment, she also used the opportunity to broaden her horizon by studying at the New York Film Academy, where she learnt a couple of things and also shot a movie before finally coming back to Nigeria.
What really prompted the making of the movie according to her was the fact that she decided to experiment on what she has learnt at the film school and to prove to critics that she is highly talented and gifted. The movie, which she featured in, was shot in Nigeria and America, and is actually written, directed and produced by her. Though she is still working on the title of the movie but is thinking of calling it Working Through the Glass. She noted that the movie has no connection with her own personal life, but it's a romantic comedy. "I just finished my film school so I got the inspiration to write the story, I know deep down inside me that I am fully talented and I'm trying to explore it". Her motive for making this movie is to basically project Nigerian image, and she promises that, now that she is back, and to stay, Nigerians should be expecting a lot from her, as she is very much optimistic that she will be working on more movies. "The ideal thing is to do quality works, so I'm really taking my time to do things slow and steady so as to achieve a good result. I think its high time the industry moved to the next level, so as to compete with their fellow counterparts in the Western world. Filmmaking, is universal, and we actually need to upgrade what we are doing".
On what transpired between herself and her footballer husband, she said it was over between the two of them. The actor denied the allegation that she was once married before they met and that there was no way she would have been married, without people knowing about it. "What really happened was that he said I was married before I met him, which is not true. He was the one who was married before. Really, I'm not here to drag his name in the mud, but it was really irresponsible of him to say that I was married before. Although, he stood by me when I had that terrible accident, and I really appreciate that a lot, but he is like a green snake under the green grass, and there is no point of making up with him because we have filed for divorce".
In a swift reaction to the recent rumour that she under went some form of rehabilitation for drugs addiction, she attributed the news to her detractors who she said were hell bent on seeing that she falls. They are ones she said, painting her as a broken hearted person who because of her broken marriage decided to go into drugs. "I was in the States when I heard that I was in a psychiatrist hospital for drugs usage, I have never for once in my life visited a psychiatrist hospital, I don't smoke or drink so why would I take drugs? I don't know what cocaine or whatever it's being called looks like. Except in movies, where I smoke, the real Steph does not smoke", she submitted.
For her, life continues, she has no regrets in all that has happened, because according to her, "you meet different kinds of difficulties in life, but your ability not to fall for the problem makes you who you are. Just keep moving and hold on to God, do not allow anyone to pull you down, if you have a vision focus on it and be optimistic that you will succeed."