Uzor Arukwe Shares How He Cautiously Approached his Intimate Scenes with BamBam

Nollywood actor Uzor Arukwe has addressed the swirling rumours linking him to actress and reality TV star BamBam following the success of Love in Every Word Parts 1 and 2, pushing back against speculation that their on-screen chemistry translated into something beyond the set.

In a recent appearance on the BBC (Igbo), Arukwe offered a candid account of how he approached his role alongside BamBam, revealing that professionalism, and not the many rumours swirling around their relationship outside set, defined their working relationship from the start.

"Before I touched her, I asked her if there was any way I could touch her that her husband wouldn't like or that might cause problems at home. That movie was the first time I had ever met her. But people started saying we slept together and were dating, which was completely false," he said.

He added that his job as an actor is simply to make the work believable, nothing more, nothing less.

The clarification comes amid reports that BamBam's marriage has been under strain, with a section of the Nigerian internet pointing fingers at her Love in Every Word co-star as a contributing factor. The film's intimate scenes, which the two delivered convincingly enough to drive the project's commercial success, became the basis for speculation that quickly spiralled beyond the screen.

Arukwe's BBC interview is a direct response to that narrative, one that he has now firmly rejected on record.

It is worth pausing on what this entire situation says about Nigerian audiences. The inability to separate an actor/actress' craft from their personal life is not a new phenomenon; however, the willingness to implicate a colleague in the breakdown of someone's marriage based entirely on fictional scenes performed for a camera reflects something troubling.

It is also worth noting that while Arukwe's instinct to check in with his costar was clearly well-meaning, asking whether her husband would be comfortable slightly misses the point. BamBam is a professional who made her own decision to take the role.

Actors are expected to be convincing, and when they are, they shouldn't get punished for it. BamBam and Arukwe did their jobs well. That should be the beginning and the end of the conversation.

Love in Every Word was produced under Nollywood's growing premium content wave and performed strongly with audiences, cementing both actors as names to watch in the industry's next chapter.

Read Next: Tonto Dikeh Slammed With ₦200M Lawsuit Over Deliverance Stunt Performed on Schoolgirl