Nigerian actress, Ogechukwu Anasor, also recognized as Bliss Thelma Joseph, has recounted a harrowing experience of how she was nearly raped by a man she thought was a destiny helper.
This, according to her, happened in the early stages of her Nollywood career.
Having made her acting debut in 2016 while still a student, Ogechukwu described the encounter as a nightmarish experience. The actress openly acknowledged the existence of sexual harassment within the entertainment industry, sharing that her ordeal was just one among numerous incidents faced by others in the limelight.
Recounting her distressing encounter during a phone conversation with our reporter, the actress, who hails from Anambra State, revealed that she was approaching 18 years old at the time, possessing minimal acting experience and lacking influential contacts.
She has been fortunate to connect with individuals who were willing to offer her guidance on navigating her way into the industry.
Fortuitously, she secured her debut role in a movie, seemingly handed to her effortlessly. However, unbeknownst to her, the saying “all that glitters is not gold” held true, as she encountered her most challenging experience while attempting to secure her second movie role.
She narrates: “I got my first role in a movie on a platter of gold and I thought it was going to be an easy one. But when I got my second role, the reverse was the case. It wasn’t as easy as I expected . At a point, I almost committed suicide as a result of a lot of things that happened in the course of my journey into Nollywood. ”
Painting a graphic picture of how the incident happened, the beautiful, tattooed actress recalled how the rapist invited her to his Awka apartment and started caressing her, and in the process slapped her and pulled out his kitchen knife to tear her clothes.
Continuing, she said: “The first time I almost got raped was in Akwa. I tried to come back after I did my first film. I met a girl on set while filming my first movie and we became friends. She introduced me to a particular man who claimed to be a producer in Nollywood.
“We got talking on the telephone and he invited me to his hotel room. I honoured his invitation and thereafter, I returned to my home town. I was supposed to be in Awka again for a job by Brymo. So, on coming to Awka, I started calling the other producers that I was in town and the guy in question asked me to come to his house to see him.
“I wasn’t comfortable with the idea, but I felt he was a destiny helper because he sounded calm and nice. So, I went to his house where I met two other girls and a guy. We got talking and I told him I wanted to leave for my home town. It was at that point he told me there was a job they wanted to include me. I didn’t know how the industry was operating then. I was just there with him. I was almost 18 years old then. While I was with him, late Brymo’s PA kept calling my line. But I lied to him that I was in traffic and would be with them soon. Later, the guy in question dropped me off. I can’t remember exactly the name of the place again, where I met Zubby Micheal for the first time, Junior Pope and Sylvester Madu. The actors claimed they were working with him which turned out to be all lies. I took pictures with them. In the end, they wasted my time after my bag was locked up in the guy’s house. It was around past 1a m in the morning that we went back to his house.
“I couldn’t go home. I think that guy is a ritualist because my spirit kept telling me to leave his house. If I knew what I now know I would have left the place even without my bag. But my concern was that I was filming and my bag was in the guy’s house. So, when we got to his house, he was already drunk as he started behaving strangely. I was not comfortable with him. But I was stuck, I couldn’t leave his house because I don’t reside in Awka and do not know anybody in town. Later, he put on his generating set and increased the volume of his music so loud because he was living in a self-contained apartment.
“I was like I can’t sleep with this noise. But before I knew what was happening, he started touching me and I tried asking him what he was doing. The next thing he did was that he slapped me and pulled out a kitchen knife, muttering he would kill me and nobody would hear me because the music was loud.
“I think everyone in the neighbourhood was scared of him as he was a Chief Security man in that area.
I then started crying, saying I was a virgin. He didn’t believe me, rather he accused me of being a lesbian. He said ‘you are a lesbian that’s why you don’t want to have anything to do with me’. He said he would confirm by himself whether I was truly a virgin or not and if it’s true he would let me be. I was like let’s go to the hospital the next day. “But he refused, saying what’s the need of a hospital when he had a hand to confirm the truth. I was scared for my life. There was nothing I could do than let him have his way. He beat me terribly and used the kitchen knife to tear my dress just to instill fear in me.
“The next day, I fled his house, it was later I heard that the guy was a serial rapist and that’s what he has been doing to many girls in the industry”.
Though we are yet to verify Oge’s claims, she however told our reporter she had faced a lot of challenges, while trying to find her feet in the movie industry.
She added, “I was rejected and blacklisted in the industry. I know how many jobs I did and wasn’t paid for. A lot of things happened during the early days of my acting career”.
Interestingly, despite the challenges, the actress did not give up on her acting career. At the moment, she’s one of the promising actresses to watch out for in 2024. Oge is best known for movies such as “My Kind of Girl (2023)”, “Transition,” (2022) and “The Anointed Bride” (2022) among others.