"Yes I Waked Out Of My Marriage With Abiola":....... Clarion Chukwura

  When you think of a grounded actress who knows her own in the entertainment industry, one of the few names that comes to mind is Clarion Chukwura Abiola .In an interview culled from the Nigerian Tribune, ageless Clarion (It is hard to believe that Clarence Peters is her son) talked about her acting career, marital life and future plans.

Let’s talk about what brought you recognition among the people, I mean the movie industry, you have not been frequent in movies these days, have you decided to quit as it is being said in some quarters?I have been very busy with other things now. I have been getting scripts from time to time  but the truth of the matter is that I have not been doing movies for two reasons, one; if the script is not right and you are not ready to make the necessary changes, I won’t take it from you.  Two, I have had the scripts that were right but the

producers could not afford my fee.

Why do you think the producers could not afford your fee, are you that expensive?Let me tell you, the industry is growing up rapidly on a daily basis, you get to see new things being introduced, this tells you that we are no more in the era of low fee.  People now make quality movies that go to the cinema, yet they still want to be paying the same fee, that is rubbish and I won’t take that from any producer.

So, what is it going to cost a producer to bring you on set?It is going to cost N700, 000  if you want me to be in your movie. If you can’t pay me that, you can go to hell.

You once said that Nollywood did not make you, don’t you find that statement unpleasant, giving the fact that most people got to know you through your roles in movies?Nollywood did not make me, I became a star when I was 18 years old with my first movie, Ola Balogun’s Money Power that was released in 1982. I was an undergraduate at the University of Ife in 1984 with the first nationwide soap opera, Mirror in the Sun, I became a household name. I did my first Nollywood movie in 1994, I was already an household name when I did my first Nollywood movie at the age of 30. So, that was 12 years after I became a star, I have made my name way back and when I have properly positioned myself I will be making my movies.

What do you mean by proper positioning?What I mean by that is the capital. I will need to work towards that before I begin to produce my movies, I cannot make a movie and start to beg somebody that ‘please come and act for me’ neither can I make substandard and half-baked movies because I want to be relevant.  I have made my name and I thank God for what He has done for me.

What makes Clarion thick?What makes me thick is the fact that I am somebody who thinks deep, I am very focused, I try as much as possible to organise my life according to priorities, and when I make up my mind I don’t retreat. I am a solidly professional actress, for me it is not about the fame, it is being about what comes from the inside of me.

For some time, your name used to be Clarion Chukwura Abiola, but now it has changed, what happened to the name Abiola?The Abiola name stopped in December 2003.

Why, I mean did you walk out of the marriage or what?Yes, I walked out because it was not good for me. I got a divorce.

Why did you walk out, did you try to salvage the situation then?

That is my private life and I don’t want to blow it on the pages of the national dailies.

It was learnt that you have since remarried, how has it been?I remarried to Femi Oduneye since February 2004.

What attracted you to him?Ours was love at first sight, we met each other in London and it has been wonderful.

But you were said to have separated for  a while before you later reconciled, what actually went wrong?I don’t want to talk about that, we are together now and that is the most important thing in life, being together.

But why have you not changed your name to Clarion Oduneye?That’s quite interesting; I don’t want to talk about that. Does that change anything?