My lesbian story— Yvonne Nelson

My interview with top Ghanaian actress – Yvonne Nelson-was a revelation in so many ways. Of the leading Nollywood stars, Yvonne is among those I had not had a close relationship with.

I had watched her from afar, seen countless number of her movies and had always thought she was a great and talented actress – someone who combined poise, beauty and style. I had also heard of some unsavory things ascribed to her – the rumors of sexual orientation which some say verged between pure lesbianism and bi-sexualism – all manner of shenanigans that had been whispered and published about her.

One of the rumors that dominated the industry, last year, was one that centered on her sexual orientation. It was widely speculated that Yvonne Nelson was a lesbian or, at best, a bi-sexual. Until this moment, Yvonne had not commented on that rumor and when I asked her what her real sexual orientation was, she looked me straight in the eye and said “look at me….what do you think? Of course, I am not a lesbian.

Lesbianism is against my religious beliefs, it’s against my cultural norms and I think it was very mischievous for people to insinuate such about someone they hardly knew. The rumor was started by a notorious website in Ghana last year when they reported that they had never seen me with a man. In their warped and twisted calculation, I was thus a lesbian. Can you imagine such crass reasoning?

That they had not seen me with a man, and may have seen me with my girlfriends going out to have fun, and then automatically I was a lesbian. It was a hatchet job – an attempt to discredit me, but they all failed. I am heterosexual and would remain one till the end. When you are in the public light as I have been blessed and privileged to being, your life becomes a public property and some mischievous people will say all manner of things about you. It comes with the territory, so I forgive them.”