Digidi Dunhill: Shares fatherhood lessons off-and-on-screen

BY ORJI ONYEKWERE

Digidi Dunhill is one of the old breed actors in Nollywood. Seen as the bad boy of the movie industry, because of his stereotype roles in movies, this movie hunk has featured in close to 100 movies and still counting.

Despite being stereotyped as a bad boy, Digi has shown his craft in music, movie production, businesses and family.

Having started his entertainment business circus in the early 2000 which included his music and acting career, Digi’s desire to conquer the industry was halted by an option to take care of his four little boys alone as a single father or face his career while the home front suffered.

He had to go with the former, since he could no longer co- habit with their mother because of irreconcilable differences. Of course, the boys were too tender to be left own their own, so he had to sacrifice his career to look after them.

‘’I eventually found out that I have to raise my children alone when their mum left. I have to choose between pursuing my career and bringing up the kids. So, l decided to bring up my kids and keep the music and acting career by the side. Moreover, l am the only son of my parents, so l have to take up the responsibility.

“It was never easy waking early to take care of three, five, seven and nine years-old kids. I have to wake up by 6am to prepare their breakfast, bathe them, take them to school, come back to the house, and start cleaning and you can hardly do anything for yourself. By the time it’s 2:30 pm, I will start thinking of bringing them back home and before you know it, the day is gone and you are tired. That life was not easy; but l had no choice than to face it.

“The only thing is that l was taking movies that were shot where l was in town because I couldn’t travel. The first time l got a nanny, it was terrible. When l go out, she brings boys to my house and my people started complaining. They asked me to bring in an elderly person. I brought a single mother with her daughter, all she wanted was to sleep with me and l had to let her go. This made me to lose hope in this nanny business and l decided to focus on raising them myself and this gave me joy, seeing them grow and teaching them values’’.

Dunhill had to move from Lagos to Owerri and now Abuja in the bid to manage his family and run his business well because for him, environment can also influenced a child’s character.

So, why did he refuse to re- marry, when it was clear there will be no reconciliation with his wife and the mother of his kids?

‘’My brother, let’s be real. A lot of women shy away from this responsibility. When you’re a single father with 3, 5, 7 and 9 years- old kids, no matter how rich you are, once you bring in a woman at that age range, she will not be comfortable. You are going to bore the person with your personal responsibilities. Nobody enjoys raising other people’s kids, taking responsibility of children that are not theirs.

“No man or woman will enjoy doing that. If she tries to do it and eventually have hers that attention will shift. There are things you can tolerate and your children can tolerate from you that she may not. There are things your children will tolerate from you, they cannot tolerate from her. It’s just pure human psychology. No matter how we pretend about it, it will not work except maybe when you children are grown. You know what it takes to wash the clothes of four kids on a regular, ‘he explained.

The actor decided to translate his experience as a father into a TV Series, an idea he conceptualized during the COVID -19 pandemic. He said, the aim of putting his experience as a single father on the screen is to encourage others who might find themselves in similar position that it’s possible, if he can achieve it. Moreover, he is using the TV series to sharpen the acting skills of his boys, some of whom are interested in becoming professional actors.

His relationship on and offset with other like minds actors people see as the bad boys of Nollywood because of the roles they play has been outstanding. He explains more about their journey.

‘’When we started this movie thing, there was nothing like AGN, it was just a clique of likeminded friends who had interest in entertainment. There is Emma Ehumadu- Labista, Ernest Azuzu, Charles Okocha and a lot others. These were guys that loved action movies and we shared the common interest and knew we could also act the same action films.”

His uncle in the USA gave him the name Dunhill, Digidigi means heavy man just like his grandfather was called Akatakpo. The only name his parents used to call him is Ogechi and nobody among his friends in the village know him by that name except you mention Digidigi.

QUOTE:

I eventually found out that I have to raise my children alone when their mum left.