Entertainment

Blood Sisters – Ini Dima-Okojie Opens Up About The Emotional Stress of Acting

Ini Dima-Okojie is an exceptional actress in every sense of the word. When she’s on-screen, it’s easy to tell that she is a thorough professional who puts in every effort required to embody her role. The actress butressed these facts in her latest interview with Pulse Nigeria where she spoke about the emotional demands of embodying a character especially one as broken as Sarah, her character in her latest outing – Netflix’s Blood Sisters.

Sarah is a new bride who is emotionally and physically abused by her husband. She excaceberates her woes by killing him and what unfolds for her is an emotional roller-coaster. The producers couldn’t have chosen a better actress for the role. Thanks to her track record of acing similar characters, Dima-Okojie was contacted by producers for the role. She was picked to portray Sarah after what she described as a rigorous process.

When asked by Pulse what her most challenging character was yet, she said;

Sarah definitely was a hugely challenging role on different fronts. There was the physical aspect to it, and it was a different kind of physicality cause it is not an action film where you train and stuff. It was a physicality where she had to struggle in that journey.

It was crazy what we did. We were in Makoko, jumping canoes, going for hours on the run. In Epe we were barefoot half the time. But even more so challenging was the emotional aspect to Sarah.

It was challenging for the character and for me. As an actor, I am unable to emote from the surface. I am not one of those actors that can get their eye ducts to produce tears at will. If I am going to break down, it has to come from within. It is how I am able to perform.

To effectively portray Sarah, Dima-Okojie had to break through a wall she had put up in an effort to protect her emotions after a disappointing experience she had with Ndani TV’s series Oga Police. She had earned the role of Laitan, a character she described as the most beautiful and intense she’s ever had. Having “unlocked” the character and given it her all, she was left devastated after producers canceled the show after airing just a single episode. Speaking on the aftermath of the fiasco she said;

I was in a place as an actor where I had sworn never to break myself for any role and this stemmed from Oga Pastor. I remember that character like it was yesterday. Laitan was the most beautiful, intense character ever and as an actor, I unlocked the door to the character. It felt like a drug, being able to be there but not really be present. There is no way that doesn’t impact your life. There were scenes where I just wasn’t there to a level that it was almost scary.

When the show got cancelled, it hurt more than a heartbreak. I cried for at least a year. Like I would think of Oga Pastor and would literally start crying. It really shattered me. It just didn’t make sense to me. I thought about the point of giving so much of myself to a character that no one got to see, then swore never to go that deep into a character.

So when I got Sarah, I was like Wow! Not again! I knew I was going to have to break that wall and give it everything I could cause you see, Sarah is broken on every level. She’s bullied by her friends and family so much that she is unable to stand up for herself. There are a lot of layers to her which is why the scene when she finally tells Kola no is so monumental.

Her most emotional scene while filming Blood Sisters, the actress revealed, was when Sarah and her best friend Kemi are discussing running away to avoid jail time for the murder they had just committed. “It (the scene) played out completely different to how it was written,” she said. “They were having a conversation and Sarah was more like her gangster self. However when we were filming, Nancy (Isime who portrays Kemi) and I burst into tears. We were crying and they just kept rolling. When they yelled cut we just kept crying.”

Thankfully, Ini Dima-Okojie is able to relief herself from the emotional burden of playing broken characters by immersing in her favorite guilty pleasure – bringing on reality TV shows with a bottle of wine to drown all of the stress that comes with embodying fictional characters. Then, there are also genuine friends on whom she relies for honest feedback.

Dima-Okojie’s performance on Blood Sisters has received rave reviews from viewers across the nation. Many have taken to social media to praise her performance, something that leaves the New York Film Institue alumnus feeling incredibly fulfilled and grateful. In her response to these praises, the actress encouraged people to chase their dreams no matter how late it seemed while referencing that she dumped her investment banking job to pursue her dream of a career in Nollywood starting out as a production assistant.

Entertainment

Housemates see each other naked almost every day – BBN’s Adekunle

Former Big Brother Naija housemate Adekunle Olapade has added his voice to the controversy surrounding intimate videos from the ongoing edition of the reality show. Tagged the 10 over 10 season, intimate videos of housemates on the Season 10 of the BBNaija show have been making the rounds online, and they have drawn criticism from a section of fans of the show.

Some of the intimate videos have involved housemates Koyin and Isabella, Jason Jae and Sultana, as well as evicted Kayikumi and Isabella.

However, addressing critics of the intimate videos during a podcast interview with Pulse, Adekunle described them as ‘hypocrites’ as he insisted that it is perfectly okay for two consenting adults to get intimate with each other if they so decide.

Drawing on his experience as a former housemate on the show, Adekunle noted that it is commonplace for housemates to see each other naked.

He therefore explained that it shouldn’t surprise anyone if two adults of opposite genders who have seen each other naked become sexually attracted to each other.

Adekunle said, “A lot of people who watch the Big Brother Naija reality show are very hypocritical. Secondly, there is actually nothing wrong with two people who like each other deciding to get intimate.

“All the housemates see each other naked, in case you don’t know. So, you cannot be in a house with someone you see without clothes almost every day and not be attracted to that person. It won’t work.”

Adekunle has appeared on the BBNaija show twice: first, in 2022, on the BBNaija ‘Level Up’ season, and then again as a housemate on the ‘All Stars’ season one year later.

Entertainment

Phyna’s sister passes away after a truck accident

Ruth’s death comes following her involvement in an accident where she was hit by a Dangote truck. The sad news was announced in a statement released via Phyna’s Instagram page on Sunday.

The statement reads, “We remain Solicitors to Ruth Otabor, Josephine Otabo (Whose moniker is Phyna) and the Otabor Family and have their instruction to inform the public this.

“With a heavy heart, the family regrets to announce the passing on to glory of their daughter, sister, and mother on this 31st Day of August 2025 at about 06:30.

“The Family is presently grieving and would appreciate being given a private moment to mourn the departed. The funeral arrangement will be communicated to the oubluc in due course.”

The news of Ruth’s demise comes hours after reports started spreading online that Phyna is down and has been hospitalised. A photo of Phyna lying on a hospital bed had gone viral online amid the reports.

However, Nollywood filmmaker Stanley Ontop has dismissed the reports as false, claiming the photo was not genuine but taken from a movie set in Asaba, where Phyna is currently working on a film.

He explained that the hospital scene was part of a production and that the medical props, including the drip and hospital gown, were costumes belonging to a local team member.

Initially believing she was truly hospitalised, Stanley said he felt misled after learning the image was staged.

He criticised Phyna for creating false impressions, especially after many people had publicly defended and supported her.

According to him, Phyna had only received minor treatment, such as drips and injections at her hotel, and was never admitted to any hospital.

He heavily fumed over what he described as a deliberate attempt to manipulate public sympathy, stating that such actions could damage credibility and trust.

Entertainment

Toke Makinwa welcomes a newborn baby girl

Nigerian media personality Toke Makinwa is on cloud nine after revealing the birth of her first child, a baby girl, after many years of waiting. She shared the big news on her Instagram page, where she posted pictures of her newborn holding her thumb, with the caption, “I’m a Mommy…… This is the happiest I’ve ever been.”

She also shared the names of the newborn, which included Yoruba, Hebrew, and English names that captured the blessings and beauty of her birth.

“Yakira Eliana, Olakitan, Iyanuoluwa, Ikeoluwa, Adunola, Meet my miracle, Yakira Eliana — Precious, Beloved — of great worth, My God has answered.”

Well-wishers have flooded the comment section of her Instagram posts, congratulating the 40-year-old, who joins the list of Nigerian celebrity mothers.

Media Personality Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, Actor and Media Personality Uti Nwachukwu, actress Tonto Dike, and many other celebrities commented on the post.

Toke Makinwa’s baby is walking into the world with a wardrobe full of designers waiting for her.

In a post on her Instagram account, the media personality showed off the designer gifts her celebrity friends have showered the newborn with.

From luxury brands like Chanel, to personalised keepsakes, Toke described the unboxing as more than just showing off items, but a dream she had waited years to experience.

“For me, this is not just an unboxing video but such a priceless moment because I’ve waited so long to do this,” she wrote.

While celebrating the defining moment in her life, Toke shared a word of kindness and hope to all those waiting on a miracle, whether for marriage, children, health, or career breakthroughs.

“Live your life, you are not defined by what has not yet happened for you,” she encouraged.

For a celebrity who has been in the news for over a decade, Toke Makinwa’s pregnancy announcement expectedly sparked reactions online. Some accused her of faking the baby bump, which led Afrobeats queen Tiwa Savage and Nollywood box office giant Funke Akindele to speak in her defence.

In the world of celebrity babies, the newborn will be walking into a life of glitz and glamour as the biggest gift to one of Nigeria’s most talked-about celebrities.