Strictly Come Dancing judge Motsi Mabuse has revealed the “tough moments” she had growing up in South Africa.
The dancing pro opened up about the hardest aspects of her childhood during a chat on BBC’s The One Show on Tuesday night (September 6).
It comes just days before Strictly returns to screens for its twentieth series on September 17 – with Motsi reuniting with Anton du Beke, Shirley Ballas and Craig Revel Horwood on the panel.
READ MORE: Strictly’s Shirley Ballas mortified in nude blunder as she ‘flashes builder’
Motsi grew up in South Africa in the 1980s before she moved to Germany, where she shot to fame on Let’s Dance, the German version of Strictly.
(Image: BBC)
The BBC judge said that even as a child, she understood something was not right in her country, given the apartheid government and rife discrimination black people had to endure at the time.
The South African-German star explained her parents tried “very hard” to keep her safe, but she knew people had certain ‘opinions’ of her simply because she was black.
Motsi said: “It’s quite common knowledge that we had an apartheid government at the times when I was a little girl, so there were some tough moments growing up in a situation like that in South Africa.
(Image: BBC)
“We as children understood that something was not okay in the country. Our parents tried very hard to keep us safe, to take away from the discrimination happening.”
She continued: “As they did that, they put us in very good schools to try to push us to have some freedom and education, but at the same time we were confronted with the conflict every single day of the year, and knowing that you’re black and somebody looks at you and has an opinion about you.”
(Image: BBC)
The star, who is about to release her new biography, added: “I wanted to shed the light of how that affects you up until today and with all of that going, how you can also push through and do your thing. I think that is a very important message from me.”
Motsi first appeared as a Strictly judge in 2019, when she replaced Darcey Bussell.
Motsi’s book, Finding My Own Rhythm: My Story, is out on September 8.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
