Tosin Abiola popularly known as Omo Brish is one of the delectable movie actress based in London, she has been in the movie industry for over 2 decades and still counting and has featured in over 100 movies.
She is one of the hardworking, simple and very down to earth actresses in the industry. In this exclusive interview with City People’s Senior Showbiz Reporter, BIODUN ALAO, she talked about her 19 years relationship with Iyabo Ojo what has sustained their friendship, her encounter with Iyabo Ojo’s late mum what she will miss about her.
Then she also talked about why she had her breast reduced from the busty size to normal size, the many challenges she encountered before she took that decision and why she has not been featuring in movies back to back the way it was few years back less I forget she celebrated her 40th birthday with a new house and also graduated with 1st Class in U.K.
How long have you been friends with Iyabo Ojo?
I have known Iyabo since 2001 and we have been friends since then.
How have you been able to keep that friendship for long considering the fact that celebrities rarely make friends for long?
Our frienship is different, we are very open to each other. If I do something wrong she fells me because I am more of a lay back person in the sense that even if something is wrong I don’t come out to say but she speaks out and we sort our differences and that aspect of me annoys her, she often complain that I should learn to talk when I am angry instead of keeping it to myself, so things happen, we respect each other a lot, when you know the person you are dealing with, you will be able to understand that person, so even when people say things or you hear things, you sit back and weigh the good part of the relationship then you will be able to decide if it is worth it or not. Then do we keep malice? Yes that was a long time ago when we were still younger, but now we still fight and argue but we are more matured now, we move on when we have issues, she blocks me when she is pissed, after 20 minutes, she unblock me, why she blocks me, maybe she sent me a message and doesn’t want me to reply because she knows I will give it back to her epistle to epistle, so before I am able to do the epistle, she blocks me off. The last time she did it, I just blocked her off, laughs!! So, now I know she won’t be doing the blocking thing again.
How would you describe her personality?
Iyabo has 2 personalities, in the sense that if you are loyal to her, then she will go all the way for you and once she knows you are not loyal to her, she is not a pretender. She detests pretence, she says things as she see it, she is one person that will boldly tell you I don’t like you. If Iyabo loves you she will love you to the extreme, she will even go out of her way to please you and if she hates you, it takes the grace of God for her to have a change mind, it will take people like me and her other close friends before she can change her mind or soften her heart towards people she doesn’t like.
Since you have been her friends for close to 2 decades, you should have an encounter with her late mum, what do you have to say about her?
I call her grandma, when I met Iyabo, she already has kids, so when mum comes visiting, I prefer not to call her mum because of her grandchildren, so I call her grandma and it has always been that way till she passed on. You need to know mummy to understand her, if you don’t know her, you won’t understand her, the first time I met, I told Iyabo that, it is like mummy doesn’t like me because she was looking at me and studying me, few days later Iyabo called me and said mummy has really accessed you, I said I noticed that too, she asked me lots of questions, where am I from, how did we meet, and so on, so subsequently we got close, myself and Iyabo would go and visit her, then Iyabo was living in Ikeja GRA, she would come and visit.
She was nice and very strict, back then when we go out, mummy stays awake until we get back and preach to us, that we are not supposed to get home late, she will tell you once you get home after 9 pm, then you are not responsible, she is always very funny but doesn’t realise it, even when I am doing video call with Iyabo, she comes in and say oh you have started talking to that your friend again is she jobless? Then, Iyabo would say but mummy she can hear you, then she will laugh and walk away, mummy is always like that, it is so sad she is no more but I am happy that towards the end of her life, she was happy, I won’t say she was fulfilled because we don’t know what she would have still love to do, but we thank God she was happy before her death.
What is that particular thing you would miss about her?
Haa, I miss a lot of things about her when she is watching movie, she will put it on the highest volume and probably we are on the phone. If we beg her to reduce the volume, she will tell you to rather go outside. She is very funny, we will miss that toughness, we will miss the fact that when Iyabo is travelling she knows that she has an adult in the house and with her around, her things, children and everything is safe but now who would stay with the children, yes, the children are matured and she trust them but the fact that there’s no adult in the house to checkmate and look after them. It’s so unfortunate.
So let’s talk about your new look and the secret behind your beautiful look?
Secret kee!!! I don’t have any secret, I mind what I eat. Honestly, the best secret is about me going for breast reduction, the boobs were huge, it was huge to the extents that I started having a backache, I stopped getting my sizes, I will go to the shops, they will do measurement and still not get my size, and when I had my second child I just thought to myself I need to do something about the boobs, after my second child, the boobs became so big, I spend so much on massage every day just because of my back.
I started so much on medications, it was really affecting me, before I had it reduced, doctors advised I was overweight and needed to lose weight and my mind was made up. Initially, I started trying to lose weight, I started trying to lose weight since 2016 but I couldn’t get to do it properly, then in 2017, I lost about 5kg, then early 2018, I dropped to about 90 kilo, then the doctors said I need to drop to 88kg else they won’t do it so, I dropped to like 88 kilos, so I tried to achieve that, then I went for the breast reduction.
How do you feel about your new body now?
Ahh!!! I feel great, Jesus Christ you won’t understand that feeling, when my boobs were big, my tummy was not big, I would get a size 22 top then take it to the tailor to slim fit it, so I can get my exact size, it was not as if I was big, it was just the boobs that were big, so now I feel very okay go and look at my old pictures, it was difficult for me getting up from a chair, I will need to use my hards as support the pain and stress was much and I was spending so much on massage, but now all that have stopped. I am so comfortable now and I enjoy taking pictures a lot unlike before.
Were you not scared of going through that procedure?
Honestly, I was scared, the only consolation was that I was doing it medically, I also prayed about it, I didn’t do it just because, it is trending or just for the fun of it, I was going through massive pain and stress and thank God everything went well.
What happened, we have not be seeing more of you on movies?
First and foremost because I went back to school to acquire more knowledge secondly I am a full-time social worker, thirdly, I am a mum, I have 2 children.
But myself and Iyabo did a movie recently and it was supposed to premier end of this year before the unfortunate incident so probably it will be premiered early next year.
You are one of the most successful actresses industry, you just bought a house in Lekki but still decide to keep low profile why?
Yes, I am a very private person, making noise is not me, it is not who I am, moreover there is nothing to show off, as far as I am concerned no matter the houses or wealth we acquire in ife, we are just caretakers.
If we die today, God forbid, we won’t take it anywhere when the housing issue came I was like I bought my house in London a very long time ago, I didn’t shout or even tell anyone, so it is not something I like to do, my house is someone’s boy’s quarter so why do I want to shout.
What is the difference between the real you and the one we see on screen?
I don’t pretend, I live my life the way I should live it. Secondly, I am very emotional, I hate seeing people going through pain and that is why I always support when I see people going through pains even if you are not my friend, I can reach out to you, I could send text to show I don’t want to intend but show my concern but I fee we can share ideas, I am like that, my friends say I play too much, when I see you are in pain, I still try to make you happy and laugh even in your pain, at least let’s cry and laugh together, that is just me.
