Marriage is all about GOD - Actor Olu Jacobs talks

                             

Veteran actor, Olu Jacobs, recently granted an interesting interview with NET and he said a lot of interesting stuffs.

See excerpts below:

 

You and your wife are usually tagged Nollywood’s most celebrated couple. How did you meet?

I was having a meeting at the National Theatre and the door opened a young lady came in. I looked at her. I have never met her before in my life and I said to the people in the room ‘ladies and gentlemen, this is the lady I am going to marry‘. Everybody laughed. She looked at me up and down, hissed and left. Today, she is my wife and that was 27years ago.

With the rate at which celebrity marriages are crashing, how have you been able to keep it together?

It is God. There are other forces outside that you need to take cognizance of but when you do, you have to make sure that they don’t take control over your life. You are now thinking for two. No decision you take should be for yourself alone. It’s for two and it must remain for two. You have to always remember that. If my wife goes out, and she finds out that she would not be able to make it back at the time she initially thought she would, she picks up the phone and calls me to tell me. Fine! You are thinking for two, she knows where I am, I know where she is. We still do this till tomorrow. Communicating like that helps a lot, once we are talking, you have an idea of where I am and I have an idea of where you are. I am not saying that it should be every minute calls. Sometimes just being together in a room not necessarily saying anything is also important.

 

So who cooks for you when she is not around?

I am very familiar with the kitchen. Sometimes, I say, ‘okay everybody move, I want to do the cooking today’. I was a bachelor for a long time and I made sure that no woman would come and do ‘iyanga’ for me. I can cook anything; fish, chicken, different types of dishes, I can cook them. I feel at home in the kitchen so if she is there, I can come and join her though sometimes she drives me away.

 

How do you resolve your quarrels when you have one?

You learn not to pick on anything your partner says. It interferes with the relationship. If something happens and you want to discuss it, discuss it till the two of you resolve it. Why won’t we argue? I have a mind, she has a mind so why shouldn’t we argue. 

We must argue but as we do so, we must finish up that argument so we can start another one. We must quarrel, it is resolving it that is the task. 

Anybody can fight but how many can sit down and resolve it? You must finish one fight before another and you cannot jump because if you jump it will pull you back. We thank God and pray to him to continue to guide us and give us the wisdom to relate properly, and to be as fair and honest as possible. Apart from that, we just take it as it comes.

                                             

                                                  Joke Silva and Olu Jacobs have been married for 27years

 

Since you got married, your wife has maintained her maiden name. Why has she not adopted your own name?

She is her own individual. When I met her, she was an actress known as Joke Silva so why should marrying me now deny her and her audience her name. She is Miss Joke Silva who is Mrs. Joke Jacobs. It is as simple as that. People now begin to say what they like. They have even written that we are separated and all sort of stuffs. When she is working, she is Joke Silva but she is Mrs. Joke Jacobs at home.

 

What are those things you really love about her and the things you don’t really like about her?

Sometimes, she insists on things. Even when we have resolved it, she will still bring it back. She thinks more of others. She will think of you and remind you of things that need to be reminded of. She is always happy to help anybody. For her it’s not an effort. She cares a lot and of course, we are all boys in the house so she mothers all of us. That’s the way, we handle it, so whatever we need to do, we discuss it.

 

You are both very busy people, how do you find time for your children?

They are grown-ups now but we are still together. When we are together, we ask the children what they think of this or that. You don’t leave them out of it, they have come into the circle and they did not choose to come, we asked them to come so we must make the time to make sure that we look after them, guide them and be with them. Sometimes, that is more important than saying anything, just being with them gives them that extra calmness. You know in our job, we do a lot of travelling, but if I don’t have anything to do outside, what am I looking for? I have the phone, if I have to book an appointment I do so. If I have to go out I go out and if I don’t have to go out, I don’t go out and I am quite happy.

                          

                        The veteran actor (Olu Jacobs) w on stage with his wife, Joke Silva and his children at an award ceremony

 

Aside acting, what do derive happiness in doing?

It is still the same thing, I love anything to do with the business of acting, whether performing, producing, directing. Singing is another area that I like. I used to sing when I was much younger but I haven’t done that for a while. It was one of the things that helped me in the manipulation of words, when you can sing, you find it easier to speak and manipulate words.

 

A few months ago, there was a rumour of your passing away. How did you feel when you heard the rumour?

I am here, you can testify to that. I don’t know. Like I said, we are restless, we panic too much, we don’t get full information before we jump the gun. Maybe they just mentioned Olu, the next person will now add Jacobs to it and it spreads like that. Some people called me to verify and when they saw I was alright, they say we will talk later and drop the phone. Now, they will help debunk the rumour but that information will not move as fast as the one that talked of death.