Sweet home
According to Ebube, she is from a stable family of six: “My dad and mum are still alive and kicking. We are six and I am the eldest of two boys and four girls. Being the first child in the African tradition means that I am next to my parents and I had to take care of my younger ones. I don’t k now about being born with a silver spoon but I know that I was a spoilt kid, sheltered and protected. I had everything that I wanted.
I only started experiencing the other side of life when I was grown up and I had to start adapting to it, but while growing up, I had everything I desired. At a point, I had to stop going to school with snacks and I did not have all my text books. For a kid who was used to having everything, I did not find it funny. While in the university I discovered that life was not a bed of roses. Today, that experience has helped me in shaping who I am. Now I know where I am going.”
Jim Iyke
She talked about the challenges of acting alongside Nollywood bad boy, Jim Iyke: “I got into Nollywood through the Amako brothers. Whatever I am today, I owe to them. They gave me my first break in ‘Arrested By Love.’ I played female lead with Jim Iyke. I was jittery! I did not know that I could do it. We had to keep shooting scenes over and over until I got it right but thanks to my director and producer, I was nervous.
“It wasn’t easy because he was somebody I had been seeing on screen and here I was, trying to do this big thing with him. He encouraged me, so too did uncle P.”
The movie also featured romantic scenes when she had to kiss Jim Iyke: “I felt nothing kissing him because I was under a lot of pressure. I was trying to do my job, acting. I was so carried away trying to convince them that I could do it very well. I did not have anything on my mind. I did not even know how to do the professional kissing then.”
The Amaco brothers
Ebube also took time to debunk speculations that she dated the Amako brothers who gave her the break that launched her to stardom in 2003: “I started up with them. They were very nice to me. Like I said earlier, everything I am today I owe them. They made me what I am. Without them, I wouldn’t be here today. I have heard rumours that I dated one of them. I am not going be the last person that they will discover. I keep wondering why my case is different,” she lamented.
Tattoos
If there is one thing one could not help but notice about her, it is the tattoos on her right hand: “It is not body mutilation,” she said, explaining her love for tattoos. “It is a kind of definition of you. I have my name inscribed above my bum, on my waste line. That’s because I love and adore my name so much. It is not a sign of rebellion. It depends on what you have. It is a representation of yourself and how you want to be addressed. It’s part of fashion and showbiz. It’s a reflection of what you think about yourself.”
According to Ebube, gone are the years when acting was perceived as a job for under achievers: “I know a whole lot of people who want their kids to act. They keep bugging me, ‘we want our son to act, our daughter is a very good actor. What can you do for her?’ The years when acting was seen as a job for unserious people is over. For me it is a steady job that pays the bills and its getting better.”
First love
Rod Stewart once sang, ‘First Cut’ is the deepest. Ebube recounted her first time with Sunday Sun: “I was in the university and very naďve. Till now my back ground still affects me a great deal. I was curious. I wanted to do it and just know what it was all about. I had friends and they all had boyfriends before we came into school. Back in school, I was not a book worm. I rolled with the people that happened in school. We went for shows and had fun. It was in my second year that it happened. I decided to have a boyfriend. I did not know what to do and what not to. He was a nice person though. That was the only person I dated in school. We never broke up but we all went our separate ways.”
Sexual harassment
Ebube declared to Sunday Sun that she has not been a victim of the canker worm called sexual harassment plaguing Nollywood: “I have heard a lot about it but I have been lucky. I have never been a victim. Sexual harassment is different from somebody walks up to you and asks you out. That happens all the time but being harassed is something else. I have never experienced it. I won’t even give any director or producer the room to do that.”
Secret to success
In just three years, she has risen astronomically as one of the faces to watch out for in Nollywood. She shared her secret: “God is my secret. Without God you can’t achieve anything and because I am me, I have come a long way. I thank God he gave me the opportunity and I have made good use of it.”
Current project
“I am working on my NGO. We are working with motherless babies. In the nearest future, I would shed more light on it. It’s a project that’s very close to my heart.”