‘I knew the red flags before I even got married to him’: ‘Skeem Saam’ star Pebetsi Matlaila speaks candidly about her failed marriage.

Pebetsi Matlaila, better known as Mokgadi on the SABC 1 educational show Skeem Saam, has spoken out about being in an abusive marriage.During a recent interview on the Gamechangers podcast, the actress and radio host opened up about her near-death experience and thoughts of

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matlaila revealed that she and her former husband were married for less than a year and before tying the knot she had already seen some red flags.

“We were married officially for nine months, but my relationship with him as boyfriend and girlfriend was about three months.

“Unfortunately for me, I knew the red flags before I even got married to him. He had an addiction problem.

“Not only that, when he was under the influence of alcohol, he got really abusive. People think my marriage was a fairytale that turned dark, it’s been dark from day one,” she said.

When she left her husband, the Skeem Saam actress announced that she was still pregnant with her lastborn child.At the time, the mother-of-two said she was depressed because she was financially strained due to her inability to work. Despite her mother’s intervention and support, she was plagued by suicidal thoughts.

“My life was so much of a mess that I remember thinking If I can manage to kill these children painlessly and then kill myself, then they wouldn’t be dealing with this.

“I felt like I failed as a mom. I felt like I had messed up my life so badly that I had nothing else to live for, and I remember talking to my therapist and saying I was scared of myself and that I might hurt my kids because I had made such a mess of my life.”

Matlaila also remembers “dying” for three minutes during her lastborn daughter’s birth due to blood pressure issues.