Veteran actress and internationally acclaimed Sarafina movie star Leleti Khumalo
quit SABC1's Uzalo after receiving an offer she could not refuse.
"People have been forming stories around why I left Uzalo. To set the record straight, there is no bad blood between me and Uzalo producers," Khumalo said. "The reason I left was because the offer I was given was irresistible."
This week Khumalo was unveiled as the leading lady in the new Duma Ndlovu-produced drama series Imbewu: The Seed, a ground-breaking local show expected to premiere on e.tv in April.
"I was offered a leading role and to crown it all, to become an executive producer of the very same show where I play a lead role."
She was excited because "it is the first time that I will be part of a production team. In this industry we all want to grow.
"I've been acting for more than three decades now. It is an opportunity I could not resist."
Leleti Khumalo 'took offer she couldn't refuse'
Veteran actress and internationally acclaimed Sarafina movie star Leleti Khumalo
quit SABC1's Uzalo after receiving an offer she could not refuse.
"People have been forming stories around why I left Uzalo. To set the record straight, there is no bad blood between me and Uzalo producers," Khumalo said. "The reason I left was because the offer I was given was irresistible."
This week Khumalo was unveiled as the leading lady in the new Duma Ndlovu-produced drama series Imbewu: The Seed, a ground-breaking local show expected to premiere on e.tv in April.
"I was offered a leading role and to crown it all, to become an executive producer of the very same show where I play a lead role."
She was excited because "it is the first time that I will be part of a production team. In this industry we all want to grow.
"I've been acting for more than three decades now. It is an opportunity I could not resist."
Her new role "is that of a chic, suburban woman living an upmarket lifestyle, but cannot bear children".
"And, as tradition dictates, I am secretly impregnated by my brother-in-law, without my husband knowing about it. I have to live with that secret all my life."
Khumalo said it was not true that her unceremonious departure from Uzalo was as a result of disagreements regarding her salary.
"It was an amicable agreement," Khumalo said.
But Sunday World sources said when Khumalo asked the Uzalo producers to match her new offer, they did not.
Uzalo's creative director, Mmamitse Thibedi, said: "Leleti Khumalo resigned from the show after getting an offer as an actor and executive producer on a new show; a career move she couldn't turn down."
Khumalo's Uzalo character, MaNzuza, will make her last appearance sometime in June/July, ending a successful four-season run. - Xolile Mtshazo