By Ayo Onikoyi

Being a Nollywood actress is tough. Especially, when you are a successful one, living large at the top of the reef of life’s ocean.

The general perception is that there must be a big wig, a sugar daddy pulling the strings somewhere behind the scene and dictating the tunes. Most successful actresses who are living affluent lifestyles are never really appreciated because of the belief that they are living off the sweat of some rich men who are picking the bills.

It is rather sad that some actresses and actors have even granted interviews to further fuel the perception that no actress can make enough money to live a life of luxury or be able to afford living in highbrow locations like the Banana Island and Lekki or go on luxury travels in exotic destinations. It was against the backdrop of this perception and a claim by one Cynthia Amadi that got notable PR Executive and movie producer/director, Samuel Olatunji popularly known as Big Sam to spill the beans on what some top actresses earn by value and standard and per appearance in a movie.

Olatunji was moved to educate the said Cythia Amadi not all successful actresses sleep around with ‘big men’ and thus mentioned some and what they earn.

“I know Omotola’s properties in Lagos, same for Uche Jombo, Omoni Oboli and the likes,” he began.

“Bimbo Ademoye charges good money to help you influence your brands, Chi Chi made a movie for N30M and sold it for over 500k dollars, how much did Cynthia think she made from Shanty Town alongside Ini Edo? Mary Njoku is making money and investing in it. Yvonne Jedege has made over N60M this year from Nollywood (I should know, I’m her manager), Genevieve made a kill with her movie on Netflix, I once reviewed a N12M contract for ‘Small’ Lizzy Jay two years ago. Mercy Johnson charges N6M to be in your movies now, Ruth Kadiri must have made over 2M dollars from YouTube this year.

“Funke Akindele has made over 1.2 billion Naira from cinemas alone in the last two years, don’t even try to calculate the money from Netflix and Amazon.

“So, if these actresses bought cars, they must have done so as a result of having relationships with men? That is essentially what Cythia is saying. Men that are still learning compared to where these ladies are

This generalization is parochial. You had challenges in Nollywood doesn’t mean everyone had the same challenges or some didn’t overcome theirs.