When star actress, Jackie Apiah stood before the crowd at the venue of AMAA Awards in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State recently to pick her award, she felt very elated. However, three weeks after winning the coveted award, life has not been the same for her. There has been series of controversy trailing her.
The genesis of the whole problem actually started shortly after the Best Performance By An Actress In a Leading Role alongside two other top actresses from Ghana at the 2010 AMAA Award. The 3 actresses were named as joint winners for the award for their role in Sparrow Production’s Movie, The Perfect Picture.
Jackie was alleged to have granted an interview to the local media as soon as she got back to Ghana where she was reported to have amassed to have taken all the glory to herself implying that she single handedly won the award.
This did not go down well with the other 2 actresses as well as a cross section of Ghanaians who saw the act as a case of her drawing all the attention to herself alone. This has led to a lot of criticism.
According to what was gathered, in the midst of the heat, the manager of Lydia Forson and Na Ashorkor Mensah- Doku , was also said to have issued a press statement on the issue. The press release issued by Habiba Nelson, the manager of the 2 actresses reads, “We are not bothered about everything that happened”, adding that the truth can never be submerged by any man, and hoped the good within the entertainment fraternity would be the better judge over the said development”.
Following this development, AMAA representatives in Ghana is said to have come out to clear the air, through a prompt press statement and also stating the fact the 3 actresses were named as joint winners of the award.
Apart from the AMAA fall-out, another latest gist that is going around about Jackie lately is the news of her double-shuffle fast game she allegedly played on a certain Nigerian movie producer popularly called Victor.
The alleged fraudulent act which may have a great deal in the flourishing acting career of the Ghanaian actress, we learnt, is now a top topic of discussion amongst big players in both the Ghana and Nigeria movie scenes, as they both said to have condemned her action as unprofessional, illegal and an act of breach of contract.
It was gathered that the producer Victor signed a movie contract with Jackie Appiah and paid her full professional fee to play a lead role in a movie with a working title ‘Buried Emotions", but Jackie was absent on location because of the AMAA event and after the AMAA she did not turn up to the location neither did she return the money.
Last week, City People Fashion Editor BOLA AKINBOADE put all these allegations to her through a telephone interview, where she stated her own side of the story claiming that all these rumors is the handwork of some people who have refused to come to terms with her success.
The latest news in town now is that the AMAA Awards jointly won by you, Lydia Forson and Na Ashorkor has been causing a lot of controversy. It was alleged that you granted an interview in your local media where you stated that you single-handedly won the award. Did you actually sidelined the 2 other actresses?
That is not true at all, I mean you can talk to the TV station, or even log on to the website online and listen to my recorded interview. The presenter asked the question about the AMAA Awards and I answered that I won alongside with Lydia Forson and Na Ashorkor Mensah- Doku. I mean, what else would I have said. I was so happy during the interview session, and I went speaking about how happy I was about the award. The truth of the matter is I can’t be talking about them. They would also have to speak for themselves. I can’t hype them or handle their PR for them. But I never claimed to be the sole winner of the Award, it was a joint thing
But if you didn’t claim to be the sole winner, why then is controversy to the extent that Lydia and Na Ashokor’s manager had to issue a press release to make their own statement?
The truth is that I don’t understand the need for whatever press release which I have not seen anyway. When she was advertising in favor of Lydia in the newspaper, why didn’t I count it against her too? Lydia also granted an interview and the newspaper was in favor of her. She spoke only about herself in the course of the interview. Did she call me to share in that excitement, not at all. So I don’t understand why anybody should be angry with what I said in my interview.
A lot of people are just angry with no reason. They want me to be mentioning them all the time, but that is not possible because I can only talk for myself. For instance, now you are interviewing me and everything we have been talking about is just me, and that was the way all my previous interview went. I can only talk about myself.
Another latest news going around town about you is the fact that you collected money from a Nigerian producer to shoot a movie, but you never showed up?
That is not true; I can give you the number of the producer. He is even shock and he does not know anything about it.It is a fabricated story. Though, I was meant to be in his film, but he understands my busy schedule and he said that if I can’t make it, I should let him. And unfortunately, I couldn’t make it because of my busy schedule. He didn’t take it badly because he said he really understands my case and that he will still use me in his next movie if am free. I actually refunded his money, so I wonder where all the news of fraud is coming from.
Judging from what you have said so far, it’s obvious that this controversy has to do with you winning the Award and there are people beefing you over it?
I am not surprised myself that all these things are happening. In life, when you are going higher, there are people that want to bring you down. I thank God for the people that are praying for me and supporting me, their prayers have brought me this far, opening more doors for me. So I won’t be bothered about those who are against me.
How do you feel winning AMAA Awards?
Winning the award this year brings a good sense of achievement and growth for me .It was a beautiful feeling and I am just so happy. It shows that God is on my side and people are out there watching my works and appreciating what I do.
What would you say gave you the award?
First and foremost is God; he brought me this far by his help. The second thing is the Movie itself. I was totally impressed with script for the ‘Perfect Picture’ from the first day I got it. I just fell in love with it because I knew it was a brilliant work. So I am not really surprised that it brought me this far. And thirdly, the judges since they were the decision maker. I want to believe they know better.
Is this your first award?
This is not my first. In 2007, I won the Best supporting actress for the movie Beyonce in AMAA. I was also nominated in 2008 for Best Actress in a Leading role for Princess Tyra. So I will say, I am not new to the AMAA Awards.
This year Awards took a different twist as Ghanaian actress actually outshined the Nigerian actresses. In your own opinion, what do you have to say?
The latest achievements of the Ghana movie stars are just an indication that there has been an improvement in the Ghana movie industry. This shows that the Ghana movie stars are also becoming a major force to reckon with, and we are on moving in the right path. There has been a lot of improvements in the making of our movies from the cameras, script writing, locations and even costumes. There has been a lot of hard work and effort a lot of us has also put into our job, and this awards have just proven to us that our efforts are been recognized and I am really happy about the development.
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