Sola Sobowale moved to the UK as a caregiver between 2004 and 2016 to provide a better future for her children.
Despite already being famous in Nigeria for her role as Toyin Tomato on the series Super Story. She shared her experience on the King of Talks podcast hosted by Teju Babyface.
“When I started this ‘elevated omo odo’ thing, I started from the grassroots. Then, I went to the college. I got my NVQ 2,3,4, to become a team leader. When I started work in that office, there were Nigerians, Jamaicans, and Ghanaians, and all of them knew Sola Sobowale. But it was confusing because my tag read ‘Olu,’ and not Olusola,” she began.
The actress emphasized that at that time, she strongly believed in the value of hard work, doing everything possible to provide for her children and cover her expenses. She recounted an instance when a Nigerian colleague named Seye Fadipe recognized her and inquired about her decision to leave fame behind and start anew.
“He looked at me and said ‘Are you crazy?’ I said I am not crazy. He asked ‘What are you doing? You are up there in Nigeria,'” she said. “But there was something better than that. My future. My children are my future. There will be a time when the energy will no longer be there. Then it is what you sow that you reap.”
Emphasizing the challenges she encountered, she stressed that her transition was far from easy.
“It was not easy starting all over, because in this place, only the tough will last. If one is lazy, one will be hungry. People who have been here for 20 to 50 years don’t find it easy, because with the kind of system they have, one cannot avoid paying bills. If one does not work, one won’t eat, and one won’t be able to pay bills,” she adds.
During her time away from Nigeria, she addressed the various rumors circulating about her, one of which falsely alleged that she had been arrested for drug peddling in Saudi Arabia and subsequently killed.
“The worst of the rumours I heard about me was when they said Sola Sobowale had been killed in Saudi Arabia, and that I carried cocaine. It was written here in Nigeria. I was arrested in Saudi Arabia and that there, they amputated my leg and my hand. And I said to them that I am a star in Nigeria and that they should kill me. I have never been to Saudi Arabia. I do not even know where it is on the map,” Sobowale said.
“So many negative things. But to God be the glory. God has compensated me,” she concluded.
Watch the full interview below:
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