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Pamela Nomvete on depression battle: I closed the curtain on my life and gave up

Pamela Nomvete. Picture credit: Veli Nhlapo
Pamela Nomvete. Picture credit: Veli Nhlapo

Veteran actress Pamela Nomvete has experienced several hardships since bursting into the limelight on Generations in the 90’s‚ including a period of serious depression and low self-esteem.

The star was at the top of her craft as Ntsiki Lukhele on the popular SABC 1 soapie‚ but behind the camera was dealing with crushing psychological‚ marital and financial problems.

Speaking to Anele Mdoda on Real Talk with Anele‚ Pamela revealed when things were at their toughest she decided to close the curtains on her life and retreat.

“My self-esteem was rock bottom and sinking. Slowly‚ I was just being broken down. Everything was going out and nothing was going in. I wasn’t nurturing Pamela. By the time my partner decided to move his whole family into my house‚ Pamela was gone and I was asking myself who am I? What am I? I had closed the curtains on my life and gave up. I couldn’t make rational decisions because I was in the dark‚” she explained.

She admitted that she reached a point where she did not respect her life any more and said that she was “going through hell” at the time.

“I knew that I must have been dealing with depression because I was in this hell. My sister put it pretty well once‚ because she suffered from depression. She said ‘it is like being in a space where the wind is blowing but it is just dry and you are bereft of anything but the world is going on and you’re in this hell state.’ That is what it was like. Even if positive things were happening I couldn’t see it‚” she added.

She eventually was able to pick up the pieces of her life and wrote a book about her experiences.

In an interview with 702 last year she revealed that she decided to be more transparent about her life in order to help educate young actors about the dangers of stardom.

“I wrote it because my desire was for the young artists coming up after me enter the industry with a bit of wisdom‚” she said.

 

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