The wife of the late Patrick Shai told Zimoja how she received death threats following her husband's death. Patrick Shai committed suicide in January this year after drama he was involved in on social media.
“I started the foundation this year after my husband’s passing," Mmasechaba Shai, the widow of the late actor, told the publication.
She revealed how she suffered death threats after his death. As if losing her husband through suicide was not enough, she received some scary messages, “I was getting attacks from anonymous SMSes threatening me, people who said I drove him to kill himself. It was assumptions and perceptions. Somehow, society believes that a man should not die before his wife. There were a lot of things that were happening. Even people close to me were asking questions like ‘why am I not crying.’ They were suspecting that I might have done something to him. How? I have been with him for 40 years, If I wanted to do anything to him, I could have done so in my youth,” she said as quoted by Zimoja.
Not only were the threats taking a toll on her, she claims the police and investigators were also giving her a hard time, “When the police come, as a wife, you become the first suspect. The interrogation was overwhelming. I had to tell the story over and over again.That pained me. People didn’t know how I felt. I am the one who discovered him. People don’t care about my well-being, all they care about is their hero. Besides, the funny SMSes, society wants you to wear mourning clothes. You wear one dress for a year, you wash it only at night, and you don’t sew it when it tears.” she was quoted saying.
Patrick's family was also allegedly hard on her, “I was sitting in the bedroom with older women, If I take out the bank card and ask the kids to get something for the guests, I will hear a comment saying, ‘My brother’s money eya fela’ (is getting finished) and they repeated this over and over. I finally called this out,” she added.
She also alleges that she got flack for speaking at his funeral service and participating in the memorial service where his life was celebrated. She said she could not act and pretend like people expected her to.
His friend spoke about his very last thoughts and they were all caused by social media. “Last week Tuesday, I think, after the Cassper thing happened on the internet, I personally spoke to him. I called him and he was so apologetic,” he said. He even allegedly cried over the phone, “He broke down, he literally cried on the phone. He was a very emotional person. Look, ntwana, I’ve tried to reach out to Cassper and the family, I’m speaking to the management. This character assassination on social media is really breaking me.’”
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