“I disguise to avoid being recognized abroad” – Yoruba movie star, Lepa Shandy

Yoruba movie star, Folashade Omoniyi-Adewale, popularly known as Lepa Shandy, has revealed what she does to hide her identity now that she lives abroad.

The actress who no longer stays in the country or features in movies said people who knew her from the old movies still reacted in excitement whenever they met her.

Lepa Shandy said she had to start disguising her appearance whenever she went out for fear of Nigerians making a scene when they see her abroad because she valued her privacy.

In her words;

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“For instance, when I moved abroad, I didn’t want people to recognize me and I don’t also like staying around our people because they don’t mind their business. I sometimes don’t use make-up so they won’t recognize me. I just disguise. There was a day I heard a guy singing Baba Ara’s song in a shop, I had to run away because I thought he’d recognize me. Most of our people are very funny.
When I was going through my divorce, someone was recording me and I had to go to the person to say I saw what he did and I asked him to delete it. Thank God my lawyer was with me and my brother, who is an army officer. I don’t know if it’s a journalist or someone that wanted to just record and post online. It’s not even about posting it online but the reaction that it will generate from people online.
When I got a property, someone asked me why I didn’t post on social media and I said why should I do so? I don’t have to do that if every other person is doing that. A Yoruba adage says that “Ti Isu eni ba ta, a ma n f’owo bo ni”. It means that if God blesses you, you don’t have to blow your own trumpet. Most people that are making noise on social media don’t have anything or some are from homes that they’ve not seen that kind of life before. It’s not everything you must post on social media and that’s why you see a lot of Yahoo boys and ritualists who will do everything to make sure that they achieve that too. Many people live fake lives on social media.”

The 51-year-old veteran of Nollywood also recalled how a movie she starred in gave her the nickname Lepa Shandy, which has remained with her ever since.

She said;

“It happened that I was offered a role in a movie by Gbenga Adewusi, Bayowa Films and the title of the movie was ‘Lepa Shandy’ and the funniest thing was that the name of the character in that movie was Shade, which is also my real name. So, after the movie, some began to call me ‘Lepa Shandy.’
I can recall that even before I took that role, I had a friend who used to call me ‘Lepa gawu.’ He took the name from a popular song that trended then. I was so mad with him each time he called me that. When I then acted that movie and it became a brand, that friend of mine was the first person to comment about it. There is a saying that there is power in the tongue and I will say that I am a testimony to that.”