Aww, popular Yomi Fash Lanso in a new interview with Punch has revealed how he deceived ladies for years with a fake ring and how his wife also deceived him while he was “toasting” her. See excerpts below:
Have you always wanted to be an actor?
Yes.
I didn’t just stumble on it. I grew up with my brothers and cousins and
going to the cinemas was the in-thing then. We had passion for such.
They used to carry me to the cinemas then because I was very small. From
that stage, I developed the passion and I knew that I would join the
profession and be like one of the people I saw. Along the way, I
developed myself by studying film- making. I read books on film-making
and I also went to seminars and workshops related to the field before I
eventually came into the field in 1995. I really trained myself over the
years.
Did you have the support of your family?
To
be honest, I didn’t tell them what I was going into. In fact, I even
lied to them. My mum even called me one day and said she saw me on TV
and I told her I was not the one she saw. Till tomorrow, I didn’t tell
her I wanted to be an actor. I didn’t need to make announcement about
it.
But how do you cope with scandals?
Film-making
comes with a lot of razzmatazz because you are in the spotlight. You
have to be very careful of what you do and where you go and how you
talk. What you do on set is not who you are in real life. You have to
separate the two characters. What gives most of us problems is that we
cannot separate the two characters. I am not a singer, I am an actor.
The way you see me on set is certainly different from the way you see me
in real life. Because of that, I have been able to live a life without
scandal.
You love women so much in movies, are you saying that is not how you are in real life?
It
is different. But then, I love women and I respect them. I find them
interesting. I tend to learn a lot when I discuss with women. A
20-year-old girl will have a deeper understanding than a 30-year-old
guy. I tend to relate with women more to get some certain facts of life
and how they think. If I win a lady, I have captured everybody in her
house.
So how were you able to settle with one as your wife?
I
had made up my mind to get married when I saw her. The normal process
of ‘how are you’ started and she responded. I ‘toasted’ her. After my
analysis of her character, I felt she was the lady I should spend my
life with. I didn’t tell her but I prayed to God and told Him I would
want the lady to be my wife and He did it. We have been together for 10
years.
You must have dated so many people before you got married?
When
you talk about marriage, it is all about emotions. Because I knew I
wasn’t ready for marriage, I went and bought a wedding band and started
wearing it so that ladies would think I was married. I wore that band
for many years. I would meet a girl and tell her I liked her and when
she asked about my wife, I would tell her my wife was abroad. If she
wouldn’t mind, we would date. If another girl saw us together, that one
would be wondering if the girl was my wife. It made life easier for us. I
wasn’t ready for marriage then. I knew marriage was a different thing
and I didn’t want to make mistakes. I ran away from girls then because
they were just too ready for marriage while I wasn’t. They would tell me
their father was ready and that we should get married but I just didn’t
want because I wanted to be the man, I wanted to be the head of the
home.
Did your wife agree to marry you because of your fame?
No.
In fact, when I was ‘toasting’ her, she gave me three different wrong
house addresses. I eventually saw her in front of her house. I had to
turn and meet her. I knew that place was her house going by the way she
was dressed. It was early morning and she was doing some laundry. I
drove off and I later came back. She didn’t want to see me. But with the
help of a woman in her compound, I was able to woo her. But then, she
wasn’t into watching movies then, so she didn’t really know me. Even
when my name was mentioned, she said she hadn’t seen me before. In
fairness to her, she would come back from school and she would be in her
room reading or sleeping. She wasn’t glued to films. I was the one that
made her to start watching films since she got married to an actor.
How does she cope with being married to an actor?
It
would be a difficult question for me to answer but I can tell you that
from her reaction, she doesn’t feel bad. I know she understands what
comes along with my profession. She is the manager of the home. We just
go out there to make money. She points out the mistakes from some of my
movies. She doesn’t attach sentiments to certain roles I play in the
movies. She knows the person on set is not her husband and if Yemi
Fash-Lanso comes back, then he is her husband. I really commend her for
that.