Mama and her daughter
‘Mercy and Michelle; slay mama, slay daughter.’ Just
an example of the gratifying terms used to describe the Nollywood
actress and her teenage daughter. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong
with that.
However in the light of her marital crisis that has refused to go away, Mercy Aigbe
has focused on being the subject of all discourse and has forgotten to
protect her daughter from all of the brouhaha and its blow-back.
It is sad enough that any child would see her parents go at each
other verbally and physically as the Gentrys have done since. It is
terrible enough that a child is witness to the numerous infidelity
claims her mother and father have accused each other of.
It is the worst when said mother knowingly thrusts the
sixteen-year-old into the vicious public, with little concern for the
girl’s ability (or lack there of) to deal with it.
Case in point: in a recent red carpet interview, Michelle was about how social media affects her. After hmmming and ahhhing for a minute she said, ‘It’s
negative because of the cyber-bullying. If you are not strong, it can
reduce your self-esteem, that’s why I hardly read my comments.
‘Sometimes I actually feel like crying…Like yesterday
when someone said something about my mum…it really hurt me. I’m young,
I’m not supposed to go through that..’
Question: why is a minor answering questions at a red carpet event –
with no parent chaperoning her? Simple, her mother asked her to. She
made her daughter attend a movie premiere without adult supervision.
The mother during that time was in the UK, ostensibly seeing a dental
surgeon and you know, having a good time. There’s a word for that type
of behaviour: irresponsible.
One is not saying Mercy Aigbe is a bad mother; I’m sure she loves
both her children. But being a celebrity has it pitfalls – and you hear
celebs moan about it all the time.
That said, Aigbe is an adult. Also, she has been in the spotlight for
a while now. A child on the other hand does not need all of this
untoward attention.
Like cancer, cyber-bulling has no known cure yet. A lot of lowlife losers (in the words of Donald Trump) hide behind the anonymity of the Internet to spew hate and invectives, just to make themselves feel good.
Those trolls have found Mercy Aigbe’s daughter and constantly write
rubbish on there. And all the poor girl can do about it is try not to
read the comments.
Inasmuch as Ms Mercy wants to make her baby a teen celebrity by all
means, she’s failing miserably to ensure that the girl is sheltered from
negativity.
There are simple steps that can keep trolls away – make the Instagram
account private, get a manager that operates the the account on
Michelle’s behalf or just disable comments.
That none of these has occurred to Mercy Aigbe and her ‘PR’ team is a
pointer to the fact that they care only about Mercy and not necessarily
the child she’s dragging along with her.
Some celebs completely hide their children from the public to help
them grow as normally as possible. And that’s fine. But for others who
crave that fame for their kids too, it behooves the parents to be
PARENTS.
It is clear that by now, both Mercy Aigbe and Lanre Gentry have no
qualms about fighting each publicly. If they don’t mind their minor
daughter witnessing all the sleaze, the least they can do is to shield
her from it.
History is littered with examples of celebrity children who grew up
to resent their parents for not allowing them have normal childhood.
Leaving your minor of a daughter to face the world by herself is a sure way of making that a possibility.