Carol King: Nollywood’s symbol of love and grace

BY ORIAKU IJELE

Her presence radiates love, grace and a strong aura that make whoever comes in contact with her to adore and admire her.

Carol King’s career in acting began after she attended an audition for a radio drama many years ago, I Need to Know. Since then, has prominently featured in many other movies, stage plays and dramas. They among others include: Everyday People, The Gods Are Still Not To Blame and Tunde Kelani’s Dazzling Mirage.

If you were not an actress, what other profession would you have chosen? She was asked. She replies: “I would have been a lawyer. I hate injustice. I would have been fighting for everyone who has been treated wrongly. Even as I am not a lawyer, it is something I do regularly. So that is what I would have been.”

The classy thespian looks much younger than her age. She celebrated her 60th birthday in July 2023 and attributed her healthy and youthful look to God who has been good and faithful to her and her family.

“I turned 60 and it is an amazing thing. All glory be to God. I keep asking myself, ‘Where did all the years go?’ But here I am today. God is faithful,” she replied happily.

While appraising her life, the soft spoken TV personality said her greatest achievement so far, is her relationship with God. “Not to sound cliché, I have been able to know who I am in Christ, right now. Having a good walk with God, I think, is my greatest achievement. Every other thing is not as strong as that. The realisation that God has my back all this while, even when I was not looking at Him, gives me fulfillment. But now, that I am looking at Him, He is faithful,” she revealed.

Many families are going through a lot of harrowing experiences to survive in Nigeria, King made some suggestions and advised Nigerian women to work hard. “I always believe that every woman should work hard because even the Bible says ‘a woman is a help mate for her husband’. Even if you are single, you have to be hardworking, have something like they say, you are bringing to the table.

“Now, look at what the economy is saying. It is worldwide. So, for two people to contribute, it is a lot more than when one person is shouldering all the responsibilities. Every woman should bring up their girl child to be responsible in the area of being able to take care of business if the man is not there,” she advised.

A peep into her background revealed that the thespian who hails from Edo State was born on July 24, 1963. She completed her primary education at St. Soweto Primary School, Lagos. She proceeded to Awori Anglican Comprehensive High School Lagos where she completed her secondary school education. She obtained Diploma in Insurance at Ahmadu Bello University and also and got a bachelor’s degree in Christian Religious Studies at Lagos State University.

She is married to Captain Kolawole King, they are blessed with two children Abdulqudus King and Sola King. She has a grown up son from her former marriage.

In life people pass through different challenges, but how they are able to overcome such impediments matters a lot. When she was asked whether she had any regret about anything, she paused abruptly and said: “I would say, I don’t want to talk about it so that I won’t start crying [laughs]. She refused to share her regrets but, returned thanks to God for where she is presently.

King is someone that believes that people don’t know her well, that is why she often says nobody should define her. In her words, “Don’t define me for me… Oh no you don’t! I know who and whose I am. Yes!!! I am a potpourri of all manner of God’s goodness and glory…malleable clay in the efficient hands of the only one I am answerable to.

“Always pay heed to your life’s check engine light. I have had to deal with some brutal truths in my life that when they unfolded, I knew with benefit of hindsight that there was that knowing in my inner man which I chose to ignore.

“I am often reminded of what my late dad used to say to me and my husband reiterates… ‘do not expect too much of anyone or hold them up to your own standard of integrity. That way, their behaviour does not take you unawares or hurt you’,” she enthused.

While comparing physical appearance with people’s character, she maintained that: “If only people’s real nature can be seen in how they look or how they relate to one, journeying through life might be easy.”

Philosophically, she divulged that, “One of the merits of joining the elders forum for me is those ‘benefits of hindsights’ moments, so many things that use to bother me before are now so insignificant, and then stuff I didn’t pay attention to are now so important to my resolutions and the kind of people allowed into my head, physical and spiritual space.

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“The mystery of backstabbers, unfriendly friends, wolves in sheep’s clothing, the horns that scatter, monitoring agents, unprofitable partnerships/associations, the Hamans, Athaliahs, Jezeebels and so on, is clearer.

“I have come to accept that just one ‘being’ is enough to rile people into saying and doing things to hurt you. Some will work very hard to believe fabricated information about you and even help spread it. In all of these…whatever perspective people have of you is on them.” “Aim to please only your maker!

And oh…always check your life’s check engine light,” she added.

QUOTE:

If you were not an actress, what other profession would you have chosen? She was asked. She replies: “I would have been a lawyer. I hate injustice. I would have been fighting for everyone who has been treated wrongly.