Celebrity Dad, Chidi Mokeme Opens Up On His Battle With An Incurable Ailment And Its Effect On His Career
Veteran Nigerian actor, Chidi Mokeme has disclosed that he’s battling with an incurable disease.
According to the 50-year-old dad and reality show host, that was why he took a break from the movie industry and his absence from public events.
The actor has been trending online since last week, following his outstanding performance in the latest Nollywood film on Netflix ‘Shanty Town’.
In an interview with Channels Television’s Rubbin Minds, Mokeme revealed that he was battling Bell’s Palsy, an ailment he likened to a stroke.
Bell’s palsy is a condition that causes sudden weakness in the muscles on one side of the face. In most cases, the weakness is temporary and significantly improves over weeks.
According to the movie star, Bell’s Palsy is an incurable ailment and doctors confirmed there was no treatment for it.
He noted that the ailment affected one side of his face and as an actor, he could not make public appearances, hence, decided to take time off the movie industry and focus on doing other business.
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In his words:
“Yeah I have been off the film for a while. After we did the promotional tour for 76 and we went to the Toronto International Film Festival. I will say something that I haven’t actually said somewhere else because after that, as we were preparing to go to the UK for the British International Film Festival, I came down with something called Bell’s Palsy, it was the first time I was hearing it.
“Bell’s Palsy comes like a stroke and it’s something that affects one side of your face and sort of gives you a droop. It was something that the doctors felt was incurable because they didn’t know what causes it, they didn’t know how to treat it. So, as an actor if you come down with something that affects your face, you can imagine what I must have been going through that time.
“I thought it was something I could move around with, I tried to come for the Lagos premier of 76 at the time but the attention was sort of focused on the face rather than the premier, then I knew it’s not something that I could work with. I will take time off to try and sort out that problem. So in the meantime I just focused on doing my other business.”
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His role in the trending series has attracted graceful reviews from viewers as he acted the character ‘Scar’ in what reminded his fans of his good old days’ role of the ‘bad boy’ in the Nollywood industry.