Dr. Hilderman, the musician cum politician who won the Mawokota North MP seat in the 11th Parliament has opened up about his struggles with adapting to his current way of life. In a candid sit-down interview, he revealed that he misses his lifestyle as a musician, where he could express himself freely without the scrutiny of the public eye.
Since taking office, Dr. Hilderman has had to transform his image, cutting off his dreadlocks and toning down his flashy lifestyle to appeal to the people he represents. However, he confesses that this new persona doesn’t feel authentic to him. He finds himself dressing and behaving in ways that appease others, rather than being true to himself.
I miss all that because that is me. What I am now, I find myself putting on things to appease people; I’m not being myself because I have to be accountable to the public, whatever I say means something to someone out there, they have a right to judge me especially the way I dress. It is a lot of cameras and opinions from a lot of clueless people who may not know the right issue because I’m not a public figure, Dr. Hilderman noted.
As he nears the end of his five-year term, Dr. Hilderman also admitted that he has had moments of regret about joining politics. He has faced criticism and judgment from people who would not have dared to speak ill of him during his days as an artist.
Truthfully, it comes up at some point. You find someone who is not even worth stepping on you, people who do not have the moral authority to talk about my brand as Hilderman because by far you are better than him in hustling and everything but because you are a political figure, you are uninsulated. But in my previous life as an artist, I would not let this slide because I would retaliate. But here you have to be calculative about what you say and you are regulated just because you have an office and you have to keep a good image, Dr. Hilderman revealed.
Despite all this, he still takes pride in the brand he has built as an artist. He accepts that people will always know him by his stage name and nickname from his breakthrough song, a past that he cannot run away from.
“I cannot run away from it because that is my brand. It can never go away because it is bigger than my name. the brand Doctor Hilderman speaks volumes when it comes to me,” he said.
