If you don’t want people to talk about you, stay at home – Jim Iyke

Nigerian actor Jim Iyke says he is never moved what the public thinks of him as people will form an opinion about those in the limelight irrespective of whether they know them.

“How many people’s opinions can you change about you? So if you don’t want people to talk about you or have an opinion about you, stay at home, but if you want to change a narrative, then be prepared,” he said on Thursday.

The famous on-screen ‘Bad Boy’ was on Joy FM’s Cosmopolitan Mix with host Animwaa Anim-Addo and co-host Andy Dosty.

He was engaged in an exclusive interview about his life, career, and upcoming projects.

Sharing some personal experiences, Mr. Iyke said although he thinks that the media has not been fair to him, he believes he is to be blamed for that as he gave them reasons to.

According to him, his ‘bad attitude’ and the public perception about him could be attributed to the fact that when he embarked on the movie journey at age 20, there was no one to provide any form of managerial direction or guidance; hence, he did not understand the responsibilities that came with the fame.

“There was no direction; nobody told us about fame. We were barely kids; I was 20. We were already millionaires before we got to 22, and there’s nobody [to guide them].

“The arrogance came, the misdemeanor came, there was nobody that could school us about the responsibilities that came with this, and then we misbehaved a lot, and then we got judged it a lot,” he said.

However, he apprised paying less attention to all the negative comments the public released on him; following his attitude in movies had helped him in a way.

“My focus was my immediate realm, the nuclear family that understood me, that I will gain a lot giving them [viewers] a wrong impression of me and I focused very intensively on that, and I think I grew with them, so it didn’t matter what any other person outside that box think of me,” he stressed.

But growing up and with vast experience, the actor said he, together with most of his peers, have come to understand the responsibilities that accompany fame properly.

He wants the general public also to understand that he is not a ‘bad boy’ or ‘arrogant’ person as he may have been portraying in his movies, as those are acting.