During the latest episode of Mercy Johnsons show, Mercy’s Menu, Mercy Johnson and Shaffy Bello got on the conversation on motherhood and acting.

Asked how challenging it was leaving her kids to enter Nollywood, Shaffy Bello said:

“It was challenging coming into Nollywood, come on you’re a mom, you know how hard it is. I left my kids at the age of 12 and 11, or 12 and 10.

… although at a point they were coming often but I left them for a number of years just going and they weren’t coming.

So it was really tough. It was a sacrifice, but it is a sacrifice that was worth it. The ends justify the means. Hallelujah. So you tell me. I’m going to ask you, I’m going to reverse it to you. How are you handling four children?.”

Responding to Shaffy Bello on how she’s been handling her four children despite work, Mercy Johnson said:

“Hmm. So I saw this quote online, let me start from there. The quote said “Overprotective moms are like girls who grew up without being protected” and that meant something.

So one of my biggest fears would be my kids going through what I went through. That emptiness and that no sense of direction. So like I always say, my life is like a scale of preference and they come first before every other thing.

Cause as a child, I suffered so much and I remember crying with nobody to clean my eyes. I can define hunger because I know it. I can define abuse so it is a feeling I don’t want any child, not the one that came from me, to go through. So they always say “oh Mercy you’re so awesome awesome awesome”, my past is the reason why I am very protective of my kids basically.”