Popular Ghanaian comic actor, Lawyer Nti, says the belief that being famed equates to instant wealth is far from the truth.
During his recent appearance as a panelist on Graphic Showbiz’s X Dialogue Series on Thursday, October 12, Lawyer Nti revealed that such perception has placed undue pressure on individuals in the limelight.
He emphasised that the road to success is paved with hard work, effort, and time, which gradually leads to a reasonable income over time.
“People who are popular have a tag of them being comfortable. People think popularity comes with outright wealth. Family members may turn to you for help, and if you can’t provide it, they become disappointed,” Lawyer Nti expressed his concerns.
Lawyer Nti revealed that the pressure and unrealistic expectations took a toll on his mental health and that has been the case for many celebrities.
“At some point, I was depressed. In our part of the world, you don’t have a lot of people you can talk to about these things. People don’t understand, and you tend to keep it inside and deal with it,” he shared
According to the Kejetia vs Makola actor, many people also expect celebrities to represent their on-screen personas even when they meet them in the real world, stressing on the difficulty of always maintaining that bubbly character off-screen.
“Now everybody interacts with you, and when they see you, they want you to connect in a way that brings joy, just like when they watch your contents. Because people see you as a happy figure in their lives, they want you to be in that usual Kejetia vs Makola character, and that can’t always happen, I can’t always be that person,” he said.
The Graphic Showbiz Twitter(X) Dialogue series on the topic, “Celebrities and Mental Health: Coping with the mental weight of fame” had mental advocate, Abena Korkor, Gospel singer, KobbySalm, actress Vicky Zugah and Dr Isaac Newman Arthur, a clinical Psychologist as a panelist.
