Hanks Anuku: How video insinuating I was mentally unstable ruined my career

Hanks Anuku, the ace Nigerian actor, says the viral video insinuating he was mentally unstable “ruined” his career.

In 2022, the actor was seen dressed in tattered clothes while roaming the streets and talking to himself.

Shortly after the video surfaced online, Shan George debunked the claim, saying Anuku is “not insane” as widely feared.

Adanma Luke, however, countered George’s claim while the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) investigated the matter.

Addressing the incident, the actor revealed that the video was from a movie set. He also lamented that the people circulating the video were trying to destroy his image.

But in a recent interview, Anuku said he lost friends and money, adding that producers no longer contacted him for jobs.

The 64-year-old also reiterated that he was only trying to fit into the movie’s character which required him to be a mentally unstable man.

Anuku added that he went through pain and was “heartbroken” that “someone could do this to me”.

“I was trying to get into character for a role I was going to play, a madman role. Someone who was not in his correct senses or right frame of mind,” he said.

“So I had to go naturally visit the environment on how I would play it in that same neighborhood. I was just showing the way the director wanted me to do it, meditating and getting into character.

“I lost friends, producers no longer contacted me for jobs. I lost a lot of money, I lost jobs, I was jobless. People did not care about me. It was God who directed my footsteps to a good soul.

“I went through pain, if you were in my shoes you would feel it. I was heartbroken for these people to do this to me.”