Veteran Nollywood actress Omotola Jalade Ekeinde has debunked long-standing rumours of a feud between her and fellow screen icon Genevieve Nnaji, describing the narrative as a misconception fueled by media hype and industry pressure.
Speaking during an interview on Yanga FM, Omotola said fans and the media often pitted her against Genevieve during the height of their careers, creating unnecessary tension where none truly existed.
According to the actress, while they were never best friends, they have since spoken and maintain a cordial and professional relationship.
“People don’t need to be best friends, but we talked. Like behind film, we dey talk normally,” Omotola said, switching between English and Pidgin to emphasise her point.
She explained that the perceived rivalry was largely a product of the entertainment industry’s tendency to manufacture drama, especially between leading female stars.
“You know the same thing that they do with all these music stars — Wizkid and Davido now don take am to another level — na we dem take start all those things that time,” she said. “Really, na them start the quarrel before we know say we dey quarrel. So we had to catch up with the quarrel. There was no quarrel.”
Omotola noted that at the time, both actresses were young and focused on building their individual careers, adding that competitive narratives were often exaggerated by outsiders.
“You know how the industry is. Them go pitch you against another person, say na this one be the hottest girl, na that one be the hottest girl. Those kind tension go dey normally, but people dey read am as other things,” she added.
The actress stressed that what existed was nothing more than routine industry competition, not personal animosity, urging fans to separate reality from manufactured celebrity drama.