Multi-award winning Nigerian actress and film-maker, Chika Ike, has narrated her story of challenges while she was growing up as a child.
Chika Ike
Popular Nollywood actress, Chika Ike, has taken to her Instagram page to speak on how she was bullied while in secondary school for her skinny figure, adding that everyday was challenging for fear of being the center of attraction once noticed.
She also wrote about her insecurities about her body while she was growing. She said; “I never liked my body growing up and was constantly bullied about it,” she wrote.
“I was so skinny and was the tallest in my class. I never looked forward to morning assembly because I’ll have to stand at the back of the class or class presentations to talk about “your best friend, because I’ll be described as the thin girl.”
While recounting her experience, she wrote: “I can remember eating all sorts to things to gain weight but nothing worked, I really craved to have some flesh on me. I was called all sorts of names like Lepa, thin girl and Agric chicken because I was so skinny and tall."
She also revealed that the experience pushed her into becoming a model. “So I started modelling as soon as I graduated from secondary school because modelling agents thought I had “the look”.
Presently, she says she is now cool with her looks. “Today the reverse is the case, I’m on all sorts of diet programs and exercising every other day to keep the weight I’ve always wanted in check, I feel bad after licking ice cream or eating anything with high-calorie content because I have to suffer in the gym. Growing up slim wasn’t cool now it’s cool.
"The truth is you have to constantly love you, you can’t be cool to everyone, and the world will always have a standard of what you should be, who you should be and how you should live your life.”
The actress however, has a word of caution for people desirous of changing. “If you want to make changes or improvements let it not be because of pressure or people’s unconscious bias about you,” she wrote.
“Do it for you. You should hold your pen and draw your life plan… Do you… Mind your business…..Run your race. Do not let anyone define you or rush you with their timeline. We all have different stories, journeys, and different clocks. You are you and that is your power!"