We will say the truth – the Lord has been so merciful to Mercy Johnson. From one of the poorest homes, He has transported the ebony-skinned actress to a height that hitherto she never imagined or even dreamt about.
Just listen to these instances and perhaps you might understand how much God loves the now movie star: Her family once lived in an uncompleted building, using just stick to guard the windows and whenever it rained, everybody would stay awake all night; all the scars on her body today are courtesy that uncompleted building’s unplastered surface which she was daily colliding with; in secondary school, she was assisting her mates to wash their clothes and polish their shoes just so she could feed and pay her siblings’ school fees; her school uniform was persistently torn and tattered that whenever anything got missing, all eyes will pan in her direction; her education had to be paused at some point so that she could go hawk pure water, plantain, et al, before continuing much later and the last but not the least, she once lived with a fellow artiste as her maid!
Today, however, her story has changed; she now wines and dines with the high and mighty – thanks to the Almighty God. Here are 20 other things that will no doubt interest you about the movie star, according to YES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine findings:
1. She was born on August 28, 1984.
2. She is an Igbira, from Kogi State.
3. She is the fourth child in a family of seven.
4. She attended Nigerian Navy Primary School, Ojo, Lagos and Nigerian Navy Secondary School, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
5. Her father is a retired Naval personel.
6. Her native name is Ozioma, which means good luck in her language.
7. She got into acting in 2001, but landed her first role, a lead, in 2003, courtesy Kenneth Nnebue of Nek Videos. The title is The Maid.
8. She has featured in over 100 movies since then. And among them are Dumebi, Baby Oku, Kill the Bride, Last Kiss, Under Control, Kezziah, Emotional Blunder…
9. She was paid N50,000 for her first role.
10. Her role model and hero is Genevieve Nnaji.
11. Her childhood dream was to become a medical doctor, but poverty and acting frustrated that.
12. Her favorite food is Eba and Egusi soup.
13. She got married to Prince Odianosen Okojie on August 27, 2011.
14. The union is now blessed with two children, Purity and Henry, with the third one on the way.
15. Her husband is Ishan, in Edo State and because she’s so crazy about him, she bought books and tapes which aided her in learning their dialect in about 5 months.
16. It took her watching Genevieve in the movie, Sharon Stone, for her interest in acting to be activated. And so far so good.
17. She failed JAMB the first time she wrote the exam.
18. Of all the unpleasant things written about her, two still pains her: that she stole money and that she snatched another woman’s husband.
19. She has a foundation called Mercy Johnson Foundation.
20. She is adjudged one of Nollywood’s sexiest actresses and endowed naturally with a killer hips.