I regret not having a baby by now – Tonto Dikeh

Her name is Tonto Dikeh, she’s still single but wants a baby. “I wish I have one (baby), so I could stroll with the baby right now.” This is the true confession of Nollywood controversial actress and the 2005 runner up of the TV reality show, Next Movie Star, Tonto Dikeh. The fair-complexion charming thespian who set tongues wagging with her incendiary performance in Kingsley Okereke’s soft porn flick, Dirty Secret in 2009 in a recent interview opened up on why she’s regretting for not having a baby by now. Excerpts Who I am Tonto Dikeh is a simple girl. I love trying new things. I love to make mistakes, and it makes me learn. I love to make my mistakes my kind of way, and that is just me. I love to make mistakes because I learn from them, and when I mean mistakes, it is not like I see a mistake and I would want to make them and do them. But when it comes I learn from them. My favourite mistake Talking about having a child early, I just see a lot of my friends these days and they have kids and the kids are almost half their heights, strolling and shopping together, it is a cute idea, but that is not a mistake, and it is just the only thing I just regret. No, it does not bother me at all. It is a thing of joy. I am happy for them, I am just happy. I don’t have much of female friends, but I am sure some of them just cope well and I don’t judge them. It doesn’t mean I am scared, not being ready is not being scared. I wish I have one (baby), so I could stroll with the baby right now. Marriage For now, I have no plans, I just concentrate on my work, do the best that I can do and make myself happy, along the line, that could come in, for now, it is not what I am looking forward to. I think irrespective of your profession you can keep a healthy relationship or marriage. Being a star does not limit the happiness you get from them, it depends on the way you carry it or handle it. But if you ask me, I would tell you, it contributes a lot to a large percentage of broken home, because you are famous, and probably the person is not famous. Maybe because she stays out late, because of her work, she travels so much, all these can actually bring strains to the marriage or relationship. Like I would always say, marriage is an institution where you have to learn, you have to sacrifice to do a lot of things. You have to come to an agreement with your partner. But all the same, you can be a celebrity and have a healthy marriage. Breakups of Nollywood marriages Lack of good communication and commitment are what kills a relationship. You need good talking relationship and understanding. At the end of the day, that is one thing, good communication, if I cannot relate to you and you cannot relate with me, if I cannot pass my message to you, if I cannot tell you the reason I have to go and shoot, and if you cannot give me a good reason I cannot go and shoot, then things won’t be easy. So, I feel communication is like a rope that ties two people in a relationship. What do you think about Kate Henshaw and Tchidi Chikere’s marital crises? You know what different individuals with different problems. The truth is, I am not even sure it is true, it can be a rumour. I have not heard from my friends yet, if I have heard from them, I can confirm. I think I heard about Kate Henshaw’s case but I am not sure. It was what people have been saying. My relationship with Tchidi Chikere It has always been a rumour, it has been there for years and it will always go on I think. He is my friend, like I said I don’t even know about that story. I don’t simply know about his divorce story please. I don’t have any advice for anyone. I am not in their positions; I am not worthy to give them any advice, because I am not married. Handling bad press I just think I am careless about all those things. I have always been at the centre of attraction. But you get used to it after a while, then nothing bothers you again. I don’t even bother to read about them again. I just hear it, people tell me. ‘Oh they said this again or they said that.’ It has not been painful for a long time now, I have stop listening for a long time too. What has been the secret of that transition? Loving yourself more and appreciating who you are and what you do. I think of it this way: if I am not an actress I won’t be as popular as I am, so I appreciate that. I try to work more, get more success out of it, and that is it. How I started I think it was my third year in the university when I had contacts from the Next movie Star show, that was when the thought that probably I can do this also began. I have always seen people on TV, especially Rita Dominic, and I will be like, well, I like them. I like the way they dress, I like the way they talk, so I have said I could do it, then when that opportunity came in I grabbed it. I used to be among an organisation where we do stage films, but I never really got to do a stage play with them, but as a child, I could remember myself doing one or two children drama probably in school or in church, but I can’t really remember. My dad and I Yes, he is my favourite because he is the only one alive. I never knew my mother, she died while I was young, I think I was two years or so. Growing up It was very beautiful, I had a lot of love around me, I had my grandmother, I had my father’s and mother’s friends around, it was so good. I think I had the best childhood. Future plans I have a lot of dreams, I really have a lot of them, but it is not something I would really want to talk about, because they are projects I am trying to work on. But it is going to be in the open very soon. As for now, I am working on a movie, My Life My Damage, which is a movie I am co-producing with Uche Jombo, we are going to do a tour, then the premiere, before putting it in a cinemas. We have done the movie, we are actually laying the soundtrack, in fact, we have finished everything.