I Was Once Rich, But Nollywood Stars Don’t Sympathize With Me – Halima Abubakar

Popular Nollywood actress, Halima Abubakar has come out to open up on her health struggles. She recently had her say via her social media page, and fans have been reacting.

According to her, even if she is very good at being strong and pretending that all is okay, she cannot do that anymore, and she has actually been reaching out for financial support to cover medical expenses, including multiple MRIs and treatment for high blood pressure.

Halima added that she has not featured in any movie for more than six years now, so she is unable to work to earn money.

Her words, “People are confused about what is going on. I am not feeling well up until now. I am just good at being strong and pretending that I am okay. This is me, but every day you see me post a picture with a filter. That is a filter on TikTok, not me. This is how I look. Some of you will be laughing. What is funny? Will I be lying? Why would somebody say I am lying? Lying about what? That I am sick?

I have so many medical things to do. My MRI, my BP. It’s 157. What am I thinking? I have not done a movie for more than six years now. What do people want? For me to die? Do you want me to kill myself? I went for MRI three times.

There is nothing wrong with me medically now. Everybody in Nollywood, they don’t talk to me anymore because of this singular thing. Everybody. I go from DM to DM trying to see who will help me. I was rich. I sold everything, my cars. Everything! You would think they would sympathise with me, selling three cars, not doing anything. How would I live when I am not working?”

WOW.

Nollywood is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term dates back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in The New York Times. Due to the history of evolving meanings and contexts, there is no clear or agreed-upon definition for the term, which has made it a subject to several controversies.

The origin of the term “Nollywood” remains unclear; Jonathan Haynes traced the earliest usage of the word to a 2002 article by Matt Steinglass in the New York Times, where it was used to describe Nigerian cinema.

Charles Igwe noted that Norimitsu Onishi also used the name in a September 2002 article he wrote for the New York Times. The term continues to be used in the media to refer to the Nigerian film industry, with its definition later assumed to be a portmanteau of the words “Nigeria” and “Hollywood”, the American major film hub.

Film-making in Nigeria is divided largely along regional, and marginally ethnic and religious lines. Thus, there are distinct film industries – each seeking to portray the concern of the particular section and ethnicity it represents. However, there is the English-language film industry which is a melting pot for filmmaking and filmmakers from most of the regional industries.