Though I grew up in Ajegunle, I spoke no pidgin at home, says Gideon

If you had thought Gideon Okeke was raised as a pampered child and got everything on a platter of gold, you may want to give it a second thought. He was actually raised on the streets of Ajegunle, Lagos.
He told our correspondent that but for his father, he would have gone astray during his formative years in Ajegunle.
He said, “It was only after my father’s death that I got to understand the man’s ideals. It was when he died, I got to understand what he was trying to achieve then. I learnt everything I know about being street smart or wise from the gutter. I might have crossed to the street to learn being street smart, but I learnt most things from my gutter, which was my dad. You could play, you could get your friends to come over but I never spoke pidgin at home; I spoke English and Igbo all through. I spoke English to my father, Igbo to my mum and pidgin to my friends.”
The actor disclosed that what he has become now is his father’s handiwork, saying, “I am living his legacy, though he didn’t drop cash and I didn’t inherit material things.”
According to him, the glamour people see on the red carpet is different from the realities of actors or celebrities. “On the red carpets, there is not as much equity as it looks. That probably also applies to how much goes into the film business and how much comes out of it. But it is changing. It is like a survival game. How many films can you do to sustain yourself in this business? It is just finding that fulfilment. But everyone has different means of making money, as acting exposes you to different things. Some people are from rich homes too, but what we earn is questionable to the lifestyle most lead.”
Though he is aware that certain people feel he is bad, largely because of the roles he’s played over the years, he said there was little he could do about such perception.
“A senior colleague once said you are taken as the first few films you made. That is how your audience would perceive you in a long time. So, you must choose films carefully. I choose films that relate to my humanity. The summation of what I know in life is through the eyes of Lagos. So, whatever anyone thinks of me, I don’t know what I can do about that. If everything is alright with someone, there is a problem. Even the person judging is not perfect.”