I lost my dad’s favour when I went against his wishes to become actress – Jennifer Eliogu

Nollywood actress turned singer, Jennifer Eliogu has revealed how she fell out with her dad because she decided to become an actor against his wishes.

She said she stumbled into acting while she was doing her diploma programme in 1997 and didn’t struggle to get into the industry.

Speaking with media personality, Chude Jideonwo, Jennifer said ;

“I didn’t come out to look for movies, I just stumbled into it [movie industry].

“A friend of mine, Princess Babiana… My dad was very strict growing up. We hardly go out, so we had our playground in the house. He doesn’t like visitors. So, we only go out when he is out of town.

“He prefers we are friends with people he knows their parents so he knows that when you go there, you are comfortable. So, my dad and her dad were friends. And she came to visit and she was going for [movie] rehearsals. So, I was like, okay because it’s her and my dad was out of town, I could go. So I followed her.”

Eliogu said that it was difficult for her to convince her dad that she had decided to pursue acting as a career.

“He was difficult. He didn’t even want to hear it. I was already doing diploma in UniJos. My dad always wanted me to be a lawyer. He felt that I was going to be a very good lawyer. It caused a whole lot of problems and my mum was at the receiving end. He kept saying, ‘is this what you really want to do? If anything goes wrong, you will not forgive yourself.’ And I was like, ‘I’m sure, this is what I really want to do.”

It took a long time, very long time. I stopped being his girl. And you know what, I stopped going to school. He was like I’m not going to pay your school fees.”