Multi-talented media personality, Pearl Thusi has opened up about a very personal part of her life. That many of her fans and followers did not know about. During her sit-down with rapper-turned-podcaster L-Tido on Wednesday, December 14.
Amid her interview on the L-Tido Podcast on YouTube, the actress and presenter revealed that both her late parents lived with the virus HIV.
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Although the star was reluctant at first. Pearl shared that her mother — a nurse — passed on when she was a teenager, in 2004. And her father, Bhekizizwe Thusi, died in 2020.
Thusi’s father was a taxi boss and driver at the time. She also added that she never understood why her mother was with him.
Though she has always been open about losing her mother at 15 years old, and how that changed the trajectory of her life.
However, in terms of her father, Thusi was never really open about the type of relationship she had with her father.
Speaking about her mother’s passing, she said: “When my mother died, one of her best friends had come to the house. She had hidden money. I ended up using that money to buy her an outfit for when she was in the casket, and I remember they walked into the living room.
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“It crossed my mind that she was dead, but you never imagine that your mother can die. I just didn’t imagine that. I just remember uSis Lindiwe saying usesishiyile (she has left us), and you think of all the possible things that could mean at that moment. Me and my sisters just lost it and everyone telling us not to cry.
“I got really close to her in those few weeks. I was in grade 10. I was still Miss SA Teen first princess, and I was doing my homework until really late and we’d have conversations. I would ask her why she dated dad”, said the actress.
She also explained that it wasn’t until much later when she found out that her mother had contracted something from her father.
“My mother was a professional nurse and even trained other nurses at the time. She was HIV positive, and my dad was always getting sick. At the time, the stigma attached to HIV was really wild,” she explained.
While Thusi could not initially say the actual term, following some probing questions from L-Tido.
The actress ended up more relaxed and forthcoming in the hopes to bring awareness. To the still very prevalent health issue being HIV/ AIDS.
While Thusi shared this information for the first time. What she did not share was whether her father’s passing was due to the fact that he had lived with HIV/AIDS as long as he had.
But she did seem to confirm that her mother died from gallstones. Which were heightened by the fact that she had the terminal illness.