Popular Nollywood actress, Beverly Naya has opened up on how she got bullied for being an ‘ugly ducking’ while growing up, and also for being beautiful.
The actress, in an interview with media personality, Chude Jideonwo, said bullying broke her as a schoolgirl.
Naya said she was often attacked verbally and physically by her colleagues for her physical features even at age 16. Beverly Naya narrated:
“In my formative years, I was always getting bullied for one thing or the other.
“No no matter what school I was in, I always felt like there was always going to be something that I was going to get attacked for.
“So, when I was younger, I was an ugly duckling. I wasn’t cute. I don’t care what my mom says.
“I was not a cute kid. I had crooked teeth and eczema. I just didn’t look good as far as I was concerned. And as far as people around me were concerned.
“I used to get called ‘snakeskin, buck teeth, light bulb head, football legs’. Just different kinds of stuff and then I just blossomed. My skin cleared, I got braces, and I just kind of blossomed.
“And I started to kind of feel beautiful for the first time in my life around 16. I think I probably was owning it a bit too much for some people in my school. I got bullied for that and it really broke me.
“I was like ‘look, I can’t win’. When I was younger, I was getting bullied for being ugly and unattractive.
“And now I finally feel like I’m beautiful and I’m trying to own it, that’s now the problem. I’m now getting bullied for that. So, I got ganged up on and ended up with a black eye, and a chipped tooth, on the same day.”
Beverly Naya began acting at the age of 17 and studied filmmaking at Roehampton University in London.
She has since starred in several Nigerian movies including Forgetting June, Make a Move, The Wedding Party, The Wedding Party 2, Chief Daddy, Before 30, Skinny Girl in Transit amongst others.
