Award-winning Nollywood actress, Toyin Abraham, has made a shocking revelation, saying that she was hospitalised due to panic attacks due to the illegal circulation of her new movie, Malaika.
The high-budget movie was exclusively released to cinema houses in Nigeria on December 15, 2023.
Abraham, who narrated how she stumbled upon the movie leak on a social media platform, said she almost lost her senses after she saw it.
Speaking to newsmen at the Federal Investigation Department
The actress while speaking to newsmen at the Federal Investigation Department at the Nigeria Police Force in Alagbon, Ikoyi, –where some individuals arrested in connection with the illegal distribution of the movie were paraded– had bemoaned her situation about shooting a N 500m movie and seeing it leaked to the public.
She said, “If you look at me, you will know that I am actually not okay. I had to come from the hospital. I have been having panic attacks. It is not easy shooting a movie close to N500m and you just see it out there.
“I saw my movie and one other movie and I was like, surprised, I asked someone, ‘Am I dreaming? And they said, ‘No, you are not dreaming’. And the next thing, the put up the movie on Telegram, telling people that they are going to upload it by 12pm. I opened the link and I saw Malaika, my movie. I almost ran mad, it was like my whole world was coming to an end in front of me.”
“My manager said to me, ‘Don’t worry’, and he started making calls to my godparents, my husband and the Film one team. My team began calling tech guys so they could email Google. They in turn had to call Telegram. Thereafter, they started breaking the links. Google began sending emails telling us that they had broken the links.”
The actress further recounted that she had lost a lot of money due to the development, as people would rather wait for the movie to be released for free, online than to but tickets and watch it at cinemas nationwide.
“It is okay tho, I am doing well. It is really not about the money now. It is about fighting for a particular cause for the entertainment and creative industry which I am glad about,” she added.
