My husband would’ve made a good teacher – Casandra Udokwu

Daily Trust: How did you meet your husband? Casandra Udokwu: We met in the University of Lagos. I was an undergraduate student then while he was a post graduate student. I was walking when he called me and asked if I was a model. I said “no” and he asked me who taught me how […]

Daily Trust: How did you meet your husband?

Casandra Udokwu: We met in the University of Lagos. I was an undergraduate student then while he was a post graduate student. I was walking when he called me and asked if I was a model. I said “no” and he asked me who taught me how to walk and I said “my mother,” and he said “your mother must be something else to have taught you how to walk like this.” He asked my name and asked if I was a Masters Degree student, because I was living in the post graduate hostel at the time and I said “no, I am an undergraduate.” That was our first discussion before we went our separate ways.  

DT: What attracted you to him back then?

Udokwu: I had always known him as a good actor. I knew a few of his friends and he used to come to look for someone at my hostel. There wasn’t really any attraction as such at that time.   

DT: Do you sometimes feel threatened by the roles he plays with other women in movies?

Udokwu: Movies are make-believe. When we got married, I used to tease him when he put up restrictions in roles that were supposed to be physically intimate. I don’t feel threatened because I know it’s his work.

DT: What is it like when, together, you watch movies he featured in?

Udokwu: I criticise him a lot. There was a film he acted in, that, after we were done watching, I started calling him by the name of the character he played. It’s always fun when we watch his movies together.

DT: What other profession do you think your husband could have excelled at and why?

Udokwu: He could have been a good teacher and lecturer. Sometimes I tell him that and ask him to apply for a job at the Department of Theatre Arts in any university and he would laugh at me. He would also make a good gynaecologist because he knows how to relate with women. He’s always very gentle when he talks with them. 

DT: What price have you had to pay for marrying a famous person?

Udokwu: There’s the price of being alone, when he’s there but at the same time isn’t. He’s always on the road and I keep praying for him. He’s hardly around, from one location to another. It is not easy. Some of his are however not so lucky to get roles in movies. 

DT: How do you keep in touch when he’s away?

Udokwu: We talk on the phone at least twice a day and also chat. My daughter used to say we behave like teenage lovers because we do that a lot. When mobile phones were not available in the country we used land lines. When I got married to him newly, I remember how we returned from the village and found Sam Loco Efe, Nobert Young and Victor Iriabe waiting for him. I watched him unpack things from the car. I was surprised when he said he was going somewhere with them and will be back later. He didn’t return that night! There was no way to reach him because mobile phones were not available at the time only but he had land line then. I was confused about what to do and how to secure the locks around the house because everything was new to me. He later called me around midnight and apologized that he won’t be able to return that night and taught how to secure all the locks over the phone. He was actually on a movie location in Ilogbo in the outskirts of Lagos on the road to Badagry! It dawned on me then what I was in for. That I did not marry an ordinary guy! 

DT: What are some attributes of your husband that your kids are picking up?

Udokwu: They enjoy reading like him. He is also very homely. Sometimes when we are done eating, before you know what is happening he has already washed the plates. It’s the same thing in the mornings, when, before you realise it, he has already made the bed. He’s so caring. So the kids learn all these positive attributes from him. Once, my son said, “mummy I wish I could have a wife like you and also be like my dad.” I told him God will provide such a wife for him and he will behave even better than his dad.

DT: Would you encourage them to follow their father’s footsteps?

Udokwu: If that’s their calling, fine, but that’s my husband’s. My son acted in a movie when he was about four years old alongside his father with Stephanie Linus,Uche Jombo and Ngozi Ezeonu. My two children have also done at television commercial with their dad and Monaliza Chinda as their mum. I  was even on location with all of them.I knew they wanted them to continue but I wanted them to have a normal childhood. But if they want to follow his footsteps, I will encourage them because I know they will do well.  

DT: Describe the kind of father he is…

Udokwu: He’s a wonderful father. He’s not quick to talk. Sometimes when the kids do something that is bad, I tell him over the phone and he talks to them. He’s very understanding. I hate having fracas with anybody, so having somebody like him makes me settle down.

DT: Is he a sporty person?

Udokwu: He’s supposed to be but he doesn’t have the time. He knows how to swim though.

DT: What’s his favourite food?

Udokwu: He loves eating beans.

DT: What film would you say is his favourite?

Udokwu: He likes all the 007 movies where Sean Connery played the role of James Bond. He is his role model.

DT: What is the one thing you would want to change about your husband?

Udokwu: He can be aggressive in his driving. I usually find myself controlling the way he drives when I am with him. May be because he has American drivers license. This happens, especially when he’s in Lagos. He believes that people drive rather badly in Nigeria.