IT is not in doubt that rumours and accusations of sex scandals reign in the movie industry, Omotola Jalade, in spite of the fact that is endowed with a to-die for body remains one of the few that have remained blameless. Not for once had any accusing fingers been directed at her as a wayward lady. If she continues on that track for some more years to come, she may become a point of reference to the view that sexual misconduct, broken marriages, and nudity among actresses are not the movie industry’s ills but rather, an individual’s personal orientation. Omotola Jalade may be snobbish, envious and proud but she can indeed hold her shoulders high where other ladies can’t. Perhaps this is the reason she is not bothered by the nickname ‘Omo Sexy’ given to her by her husband.

But how has she faired as an actress? Evidences abound that the beautiful mother of four ranks among the best and the most sought after. Her natural way of interpreting roles coupled with her beauty, charm and a provocatively sexy body, endeared her to a large number of fans across the country and beyond.

Interestingly, it’s not only her fans that see Omotola as being sexy, ‘Omo Sexy’ knows she’s sexy and does not hide it.

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with being sexy, I know I’m just plain sexy, because I see my reflection often," she said.

Asked to explain what she meant by being sexy, she explained: "If you dress so as to flaunt your curves so well, that’s being sexy. You must know how to present your curves."

And does she present hers well? The sexy lady answered in the affirmative.

Since it is not unusual to see ladies going under the surgeon’s blade to add to their curves and breast in the name of body enhancement these days, the star actress was asked if she has done something like that.

Omotola riposted with the question: "Why should I?" Speaking further, she said: "My curves are natural, I took after my mum who had heavy curves. I had always known I’d blow up because I took after my mum, with everything from my mother, waistline downwards, she was very heavy and I have the same heavy waistline."

Although, most people refer to her as ‘Omo Sexy’ today, however, the mother of four beautiful children disclosed that the sobriquet actually emanated from her husband. "My husband gave me the nickname ‘Omo Sexy’ before everyone started addressing me as "Omo Sexy’.

The husband, Matthew Ekeinde, an Airline Captain married the then young, innocent Omotola who was a teenager at the Ikeja Registry in 1996. Then, she was about a year old in the movie industry having debuted in 1995.

Five years later, to show the romantic part of him, the husband decided to have an elaborate white wedding aboard an aircraft that flew from Lagos to Benin in Edo State. That singular act, coupled with the nickname ‘Omo Sexy’ given to his wife portrayed the pilot as a very romantic person. In her view, Omotola Jadade revealed that if he’s not romantic, she wouldn’t have fallen for him in the first place. "My husband is very romantic, he’s crazily romantic. He’ll do things that will make you think you can’t get enough of this guy. You must believe me, at times in public, my husband would just grab my bum to the amazement of people."

On what their relationship is like now that four children have come in between them, she said, "it’s not different, he’s a very crazy guy, everybody that has met him does not believe he’s my husband , you’ll just think we are dating, you won’t know we are married and that has kept us going. Though we are independent, yet, we are very united," she said.

If Omotola likes everything about independence and adventure with her dressing, she’d rather not expose her body, "although the act is rampant today in the society, I’ll never do that. I don’t actually have any problem wearing nice things but I can’t wear something that’ll show my anatomy, especially, in public, but I can wear things that can show my tummy, legs, my upper body but definitely not something that will show my boobs."

If she can’t wear something that’ll expose her private parts in public, what about in the movie world which she finds herself?

"Movie world is different" she responds Omotola took part in a controversial movie known as The Prostitute, where she played a naughty role of a professional prostitute but tactically, she avoided the naughty scenes, where her private part would be filmed. Another person had to play the part for her.

According to her, she had to avoid the naughty scenes because it wasn’t worth it.

The sexy image of the star actress would definitely make a lot of male admirers run after her for a relationship but the award winning actress said "it only depends on whether you want to make such happen. It’s just unfortunate that men would still want a relationship with married women even after four kids. But in any case, I try to put them in check when they come my way. Most times, I tell my husband about these men except the ones I feel are irrelevant," she explained.

If she agreed with the fact that men still run after women irrespective of their marital status, she would not want to believe it’s her sexy image that is bringing men to her. "At times, it might be the genuine way they feel about a woman not because she’s married. But making them understand I’m not for that always put them in check."

Most of the time, it seems it’s a man that runs after a woman, but it may happen that a man catches a lady’s fancy and she would want to be his friend. Omotola was asked if she had been in such a situation before. If you think, she’d lie about this, then you are in for a surprise because Omotola said that it was not a big deal and that she had done that before. "There is no big deal in you admiring a guy or a guy admiring a woman, my husband feels so about other girls too. If it comes and you get out of it, it’s no big deal," she said.

Omotola Jalade has a preference for colour red, though she does not really know how she came to love the colour, she just found out that the colour lives around her, her room, office, clothes and everywhere.

In recent times, fashion and style have increasingly become hard to differentiate, but this is not the case with Omotola. To her, fashion is being trendy and being fashionable and it’s different from being stylish which most people confuse with each other. To support her claim, she said "it’s only the likes of Charly Boy that have style, you can’t see Charly Boy and not know he’s Charly Boy. For me, there is no particular thing I couldn’t wear."

Her favourite musician is American Super Star Beyonce Knowles of the former Destiny Child. Omotola Jalade loves her so much that she has a big picture of the lady adorning her office. But did this American songbird influence her musical career? "No," she said. She said she just liked her person and style, music had been with her even before Beyonce came up.

Born about 30 years ago, the first of family of five, Omotola studied Estate Management at the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos. Her breakthrough came when she played a lead role in the award winning movie Mortal Inheritance in 1995. That year, she won the Best Actress of the Year at the Movie Awards (Thema). Ever since, her fame has been on the upward swing. She has starred in more than 300 movies. She’s blessed with Mariah, Michael, Matthew jnr and Princess.
March 2007