MOTSWAKO show host Penny Lebyane touched many hearts this week when, instead of interviewing people about their lives, she set on the other side of the camera to talk about her own demons.
The mother of two was interviewed on her Monday night show on SABC2. She opened up about her life, including her acrimonious divorce from the father of her two children.
In an interview with Sowetan yesterday Lebyane explained why she used her own show to speak out about an issue she said had always affected her.
"When I had contractual disputes with Metro FM in 2008 it was at the same time that my marriage collapsed and I had to move out of our home with a 30-day old child. I had nowhere to go except to live with my parents in Soweto.
" I had to take my other four-year-old son out of school to live at home with my mother. I also had no car and relied on lifts. It was hard and I had a breakdown, and then people started distorting what really happened in my life," Lebyane said.
She opened up about the breakdown, saying it had made her contemplate suicide.
This came as a result of the fact she had to take a huge cut in her income and because she was separated from her husband. Lebyane said she also wanted to correct the distortion that she was fired from Metro FM.
"I was not fired because I had a running contract that was supposed to end in 2011, but the terms were changed and that meant I was going to get paid much less than what my contract stipulated. So I was frustrated most of 2009 as I was off air and yet I had a contract," she said.
The show host said when she landed the Motswako job at the beginning of 2010, the offer came at the right time for her.
Asked whether she would go back to Metro FM if an opportunity came along, she said she would do so only on certain conditions.
"I would go back there, yes, because the station has always stood for black excellence. But this time I would go back on my own terms as I know what I want, and the fear that prevented me from speaking out at that time is no more. I now have power over the fear to speak out on things I feel are not right," she said.
Lebyane said she believed her speaking out will somehow help other people in similar situations to overcome their problems.
"All that is now behind me and I have moved on," she said.
Motswako's Penny Lebyane: 'I wanted to commit suicide'
MOTSWAKO show host Penny Lebyane touched many hearts this week when, instead of interviewing people about their lives, she set on the other side of the camera to talk about her own demons.
The mother of two was interviewed on her Monday night show on SABC2. She opened up about her life, including her acrimonious divorce from the father of her two children.
In an interview with Sowetan yesterday Lebyane explained why she used her own show to speak out about an issue she said had always affected her.
"When I had contractual disputes with Metro FM in 2008 it was at the same time that my marriage collapsed and I had to move out of our home with a 30-day old child. I had nowhere to go except to live with my parents in Soweto.
" I had to take my other four-year-old son out of school to live at home with my mother. I also had no car and relied on lifts. It was hard and I had a breakdown, and then people started distorting what really happened in my life," Lebyane said.
She opened up about the breakdown, saying it had made her contemplate suicide.
This came as a result of the fact she had to take a huge cut in her income and because she was separated from her husband. Lebyane said she also wanted to correct the distortion that she was fired from Metro FM.
"I was not fired because I had a running contract that was supposed to end in 2011, but the terms were changed and that meant I was going to get paid much less than what my contract stipulated. So I was frustrated most of 2009 as I was off air and yet I had a contract," she said.
The show host said when she landed the Motswako job at the beginning of 2010, the offer came at the right time for her.
Asked whether she would go back to Metro FM if an opportunity came along, she said she would do so only on certain conditions.
"I would go back there, yes, because the station has always stood for black excellence. But this time I would go back on my own terms as I know what I want, and the fear that prevented me from speaking out at that time is no more. I now have power over the fear to speak out on things I feel are not right," she said.
Lebyane said she believed her speaking out will somehow help other people in similar situations to overcome their problems.
"All that is now behind me and I have moved on," she said.
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