Former Skeem Saam actress Pebetsi Matlaila discusses the impact of growing up with a parent struggling with substance addiction.
PEBETSI MATLAILA: ‘I KNOW HOW CHALLENGING IT IS’
The author and actress Pebetsi Matlaila reveals in an interview on Varied Views podcast that her father is an alcoholic and an abuser.
She adds that the first time she told the world that her father was an addict they thought she was being disrespectful.
“I got phone calls from my aunts asking why I would say that in a public space,” she says.
“I know what it’s like to be a parent and carry a lot on your shoulders, and substances are the only things that can help you escape. I’ve been where my dad is; I’ve also been an addict at some point, and I know how challenging it is.”
Matlaila admits that coping with childhood trauma, abuse, and adulthood as a single parent of two children with different fathers can be challenging.
She said she realised what her father was going through when she was going through her addiction.
“When I told the world my dad is an alcoholic and an abuser, I wasn’t trying to shame him or trying to paint him with a dark cloud.”
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by PEBETSI NOLO MATLAILA (@pebetsimatlaila)
HER ROLE IN ‘SKEEM SAAM’
The actress and radio personality Pebetsi Nolo Matlaila gained popularity for her role on SABC 1’s soapie Skeem Saam as Mokgadi Matloga-Maputla.
Her character was a single mother and a journalist who later became Leeto Maputla’s (Eric Macheru) wife.
On the show, Mokgadi’s son Noah was sent to prison after finishing high school. Leeto filed for divorce and Mokgadi moved back to her mother’s (Mary) house.
She went back to radio after taking a break from the educational show and wrote a book titled, A Decade In My Lifetime.