Beverly Naya: How being bullied as schoolgirl broke me

Beverly Naya has shed some light on the bullying she experienced during her formative years.

The actress, in an interview with the media entrepreneur 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.

“In my formative years, I was always getting bullied for one thing or the other,” the movie star narrated.

“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 titles including ‘Forgetting June’, ‘Make a Move’ and ‘Chief Daddy’.