Showmax’s Untied is offering viewers an unusually personal look at the lives of South Africa’s best-known celebrities and public figures, with guests opening up about experiences usually kept away from the spotlight.
Across the emotionally charged talk-show series, eight influential personalities discuss heartbreak, grief, marriage and some of the most difficult periods they have endured.
The latest guest to share her story is actress and motivational speaker Mona Monyane, who spoke candidly about the pain behind her public life and the struggles that shaped her.
Read more | Dawn Thandeka King discusses her divorce on Untied: “That killed me”
During an honest interview with host Relebogile Mabotjane, Mona detailed the events that eventually resulted in her 2020 separation from her estranged husband, Khulu. The couple had been married for four years.
They welcomed their first child in 2017. The following year, when their baby was seven months old, Mona became pregnant again, but their second child died shortly after birth.
Mona described losing the baby in 2018 as an experience that caused overwhelming emotional pain.
The couple were also experiencing financial difficulties and had moved into Mona’s family home. She said the death of their child placed even more pressure on their already strained relationship.
“The deepest pain God has ever put me through was that,” Mona said, adding that she believed the experience was necessary.
She also reflected on how much her marriage had changed her, saying she had reached a point where she could hardly recognise herself and had come close to losing her identity completely.
“That marriage was going to destroy me. I had become so disconnected from myself that my reflection felt unfamiliar. I no longer had dreams, and I stopped believing I had any ability as an actress.”
Read more | Norma Mngoma discusses her explosive Showmax tell-all about ex-husband Malusi Gigaba: “This is who he is”
Even as the relationship deteriorated, Mona attempted to keep the marriage together for the benefit of their first child.
She explained that she did not want to bring up her child on her own and believed she had to endure the difficult periods with her partner. Three months after the death of their second baby, they tried to conceive again in the hope that another child might help repair their relationship, but Mona suffered a miscarriage.
“I was trying to protect my marriage. I didn’t want my child to grow up with just one parent, and I didn’t want a single-parent home. Marriage means standing together through the painful seasons,” she said.
The situation reached its breaking point several months after the loss of their children, when Mona’s family home was destroyed by fire.
She said she felt abandoned during the crisis and remained troubled by details surrounding the blaze that she could not understand.
That moment forced Mona to acknowledge that she could no longer keep explaining away the things she was not receiving from the marriage.
“Some things about that fire simply did not add up to me. What hurt, too, was the way everything was dealt with, because you need support during moments like that. I could not continue justifying why this marriage was not giving me what I needed,” she said.
Showmax also shared a post connected to Mona’s appearance on Untied.
