Here is a brief excerpt of what Chidinma told a Punch report about the scandal:
You eventually came into the spotlight and it opened doors to controversies and scandals
I have been in the news lately. My manager told me that I am a balloon on top of lots of needles. People want me to drop on those needles and get deflated. He told me to be careful. The first time was when my nude picture went viral. I actually went for a photo shoot for my friend. I wore a tube dress. Some mischief makers actually cropped off the lower part of the picture and posted it on the Internet. It was as if I was nude. I wasn’t happy at all. I had that picture. I had to post the real picture on the net and people now got convinced the nude picture wasn’t original.
You eventually came into the spotlight and it opened doors to controversies and scandals
I have been in the news lately. My manager told me that I am a balloon on top of lots of needles. People want me to drop on those needles and get deflated. He told me to be careful. The first time was when my nude picture went viral. I actually went for a photo shoot for my friend. I wore a tube dress. Some mischief makers actually cropped off the lower part of the picture and posted it on the Internet. It was as if I was nude. I wasn’t happy at all. I had that picture. I had to post the real picture on the net and people now got convinced the nude picture wasn’t original.
I thought that was the end, I didn’t know a bigger scandal was coming…
You mean the séx video?
You mean the séx video?
Oh
yes. I woke up one morning and I was greeted on the internet with
‘Chidinma and séx tape’. I was worried primarily because of my mother. I
didn’t let her see the video but I had to show her the photos. I didn’t
want to go out that day. I couldn’t go out. But my mum felt otherwise.
She told me to ignore the mischief makers. I almost took some actions
but I thought against it. I met Sound Sultan on a set. He told me,
‘Babe, you are now a star. I welcome you officially into the industry.’ I
trended for three days. Even people who didn’t know me got to know me.
My fan base grew.
And then, I was happy because more
than 90 per cent of the public didn’t believe I was the one in that
video. There were people who didn’t need to see the video to believe I
couldn’t have done such thing. I am just grateful to everyone who didn’t
believe the story. My twitter account was hacked and the people created
another account. They kept releasing nasty pictures and they were even
responding to the tweets as if I was the one doing it. I was just
watching and laughing. It put me in the spotlight. I used it for good.