Having a baby at 56 can be very draining —Jude Chukwuka

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3 years ago

In this interview by FEMI OGUNTAYO, Nollywood Actor, Jude Chukwuka goes all out as he talks about having a baby at age 56 and how life has been since fame smiled on him. Excerpts:

What’s new with you since the last time we spoke?

A lot has happened since we last spoke, but the most significant of them all is that I have just started working with a new group. With this group, we have taken the time to look at where I began from, where I am and where I hope to be and we are working on both a plan and strategy to put me in a position both at the end of positively influencing my environment, working on what we have termed ‘The Social Remodeling Plan’, keep me in the forefront in help our youths to get great and proper perspective of how they should run their lives and also put me in that position where my image is stronger by way of being more economical viable. We are working on it, I know we are moving somewhere, we have set out specific plans and we will follow this plans and see how it turns out. The plans though are not cast in stone like every other meaningful plans, it will evolve with events and circumstances to help us achieve the original goal – to make an average Nigerian youth aware of the good things around him and also a stronger personality that will be able to cut stronger and bigger economic benefit.

We are gradually going to the end of the first quarter of 2022, how has the year been so far for you, career-wise?

You know how businesses are like in the first quarter, it is also like that in the acting industry. It is usually drab in the first quarter. We know it picks up generally towards the end of the first quarter and the beginning of the second quarter, so far we thank God, we have been seeing pockets of opportunities to hold body and soul together.

How has life been since the prominence you got from the breakout in 2020?

My life has changed massively! It has been a wonderful experience on the whole. People walk up to you to give you gifts that you cannot imagine or ordinarily afford; people stopping you on the street wanting to take pictures with you. Anytime I am out with my family, they are always pissed off by the way people pump into our conversations, wanting to take pictures and all that. I have also been seen as a voice for some issues, specifically as it concerns the youths and the younger generation. I have spoken on their behalf at different forums, I believe those who invited me to speak in these places take my position strongly that was why I qualified to make a case at such sittings. I have also been lied to, cheated because at that point it was so cloudy, that was why I knew I needed a group that can help look at Jude from he started from, where he is and what he hopes to achieve. It has been a big one, but on the whole, it has been very wonderful and encouraging, I thank God for that.

You have been in the industry for a long time now, how would you say the Nigerian movie industry is fairing?

The Nigerian movie industry has just started to evolve into a global player. The Nigerian audience, whether the ones here in Nigeria or in the Diaspora, are not a critiquing audience, they are majorly an emotional audience. So, when you put up a story, as long as it connects to their emotions, then it is a good film. What they go through technically to put up the movie doesn’t matter to them, but for a critiquing mind, it does matter. We thank those that have invested their time and money in this era but today, we are just imagined to become global contenders and that is why those big distributors like Netflix, Amazon Prime and the likes are coming for us. Things have changed technically, if you check these platforms, you will see quality films. I know we are evolving in Nollywood too and I believe in the direction we are moving. Things are different from how it was in those days.

One can say you are also a stakeholder in the Nigerian music industry, what’s your view of the giant strides our young music stars are attaining now globally?

You will agree with me that Nigeria has always been the home of good music and great musicians. We have had Fela Anikulapo, Sunny Ade, Ayinla Omowura, the Oriental Brothers, we have always had that base. Why what is happening now is happening is because there is now social media. More people are now opened to sharing Nigerian music and they do this with this African-ness which is that new thing that is exciting and I greet their courage to face it. These young boys are making wonderful steps, Tuface, Olamide, Wizkid, Davido and the likes, I will like to single out Q-dot because he is the future of Yoruba music. I can say categorically about him that he has pushed Yoruba music to another level. He has been wonderful in that space, representing strongly with Yoruba. Burna Boy is also there burning the whole universe with his Afro infusion and they are all making Nigeria proud and they will make us prouder I believe.

I mean, just this year alone, we have seen two top British artistes team up with Fireboy DML on new songs, we have had Omah Lay with Justin Bieber, we also have Rema too breaking records globally and would you say Nigerian music has taken over already?

I think I have a different view or a reverse view on this. Africa is a big market for these people and they know we can be very fanatic with whatever we embrace. In our days we do more of the western songs in parties and only play our own songs later on when the DJ is tired, but that has changed now. It is basically an African music setting for Africans. The western world has seen now that the only way to get into the African music market is to do something with an African musician or a Nigerian musician. Without a sense of pride, let me just say a Nigerian musician, because for Justin Bieber for example, an average man on the street of Nigeria would not know who Justin Bieber is but dealing with Omah Lay, Omah Lay fans will become his apostles. So, they just have to do this to break into Nigerian market and that is how the Nigerian music industry has positioned itself.

You’re a music lover, do you have business with music or have an intention to invest in the music business in the long run?

Yes, I am a music lover and I have intention to invest in the music business in the long run, but I wouldn’t like to announce what I have in store musically now. Let us keep our fingers crossed something is cooking. (Laughs)

You’re close to 60 years now and you still swag up and all that, what’s the motivation behind your dressings sometimes?

Yes I am close to 60 and I still dress that way because I believe a man is as old as he feels and a woman is as old as she looks. I may be old but I am young at heart. I do this not just for myself but for as many feel tied down by society or their children or friends, they have someone to point to and say, if Jude can do it, yes, I can do it as well. What makes me feel comfortable is what I wear.

A sad one there with the Kemi Afolabi story, what would you say about actors in Nigeria and their general healthcare?

Kemi’s case is an unfortunate situation. I don’t know what to say, I just pray God grants her the strength to walk through this challenge. As far as I am concerned, I want to believe she has done the right to go to the doctors and they have told her what to do and how many years she has left and all that. However, I just want her to be strong and walk through every day in strength, because nobody can understand how she feels, I pray God strengthens her. Well concerning how Nigerians and actor take their health, we all have been victims of living our lives the way we did during our younger years not remembering that days like these will come. When you share your experience with younger Nigerians now, not necessarily actors, talking to them about how you have abused the use of alcohol and cigarette and encourage them to, if not stop, reduce the intake, they will look at you like after you have enjoyed your life, you are now telling us not to enjoy our own life and that is the general reaction. Your body is a mechanism, if you abuse it too much, at some point, it may fail, except in some rare exceptional cases. Only few young Nigerians take their health very seriously. I want to encourage these young people, to from this point, begin to take care of themselves. Otherwise, the end is not always good and it will hurt people who love you.

It’s not too late to say congratulations on your new baby boy. How does it feel to have a baby boy, especially at age 56?

Yes, it is not too late, thank you. It is not easy, during her antenatal I made sure I attended all her sessions with her, I never missed one antenatal with any of his siblings, and so I won’t say because now I am old I would drop the standard. The sleepless nights? I love my children and everything they give to me, I see it as a challenge, even during their growing years, so this is not different. His sleeping schedule is different from ours, it has been an experience and it is a tiring one too. (Laughs). I know some people will say, it is you that knows what you are looking for that you are still firing at 50. But it was a decision I took myself and I bear the responsibility only, so far I am enjoying every bit of it. Even though I will not encourage anyone my age who still wants to have children not to try it, because it can be draining, it is draining but I enjoy it. He is a super guy.

Some words for the lovers and fans of Jude Chukwuka?

My fans are the reasons why I am called a celebrity, I love them so much. I also want to advise them, come 2023, those in Nigeria should make sure they go all out to get their PVCs, ready to influence their society where they live. We can only make a change or change a government when we have our voter’s cards. Do not lose hope or faith in the system, I have always told them not to say, ‘even when we vote, will they count it?’ and I told them, if you vote the way you ought to vote – massively, changing figures will become very difficult. The power is in your hands, use it wisely!

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