We spoke to one of Mzansi's hottest stars, Pearl Thusi, about her daughter, the industry and how she deals with haters and critics. This one is not to be missed! 

Hi Pearl welcome to ZAlebs! How are you doing today? 

Thank you, it’s kinda cool to be here! I’m awesome!

Why didn’t you invite us to your bday at Taboo? We’re a little hurt if we’re honest! 

My management is who you have to discuss that with! I said they should invite everyone except two papers [laughs]. I did Instagram it, you could have contacted us and said “Hey whats up!” so, you know, you should also be taking initiative [laughs again].

We saw you at the Celebrity Cherubs Mothers Day gig last week, how amazing was it to interact with other celebs mothers and children?

It was really cool! I had an emotional day to begin with, I got there much later so that I could get myself together. It’s so awesome what they’re doing though because we celebrated Mother’s Day by giving to others. You learn a lot from that and receive a lot from it, perhaps more than you’d get from receiving a gift. For me to give up my time for them was a pleasure. I’m really proud of Carmel for putting it all together; anyone who uses their influence for the right things is aware of what being in this industry really means. 

We celebrated all mothers, as well as, obviously, celebrity mothers. How difficult is it to be a full-time mom and a full-time celeb; those are two very demanding crowds!

I think being a mom is universal, there’s no such thing as being “this type of mother” or whatever, but there are also responsibilities to take into consideration when you bring in the “celeb” element. For instance, I won’t do many [magazine] covers unless it’s very mother-daughter centric because some people will take those pictures and use them for completely different purposes. It’s an incredible experience though, it’s ever-changing, ever rewarding and no words will ever do it justice. 

Walter Mokoena's baby"@MysBaki: Pearl Thusi nd Daughter★Adorbs★Girls are more fun,can't wait for lil'Sano♥ pic.twitter.com/w9u120u4Wf"

— mpelekgane_car_wash (@RibsonMphao) April 13, 2014

 Your daughter is the spitting image of you....within the cut throat industry you work in would you want her to follow in your footsteps?

Really? I actually think she wants to! It’s funny because when I was studying at University she used to kick a lot during class! One thing she’ll never say to me (Because she knows I’ll bust a brain vessel) but she said to my best friend who picked her up from school the one time, “I don’t know why they force me to go to school because I know I’m going to be an actress and a singer! But it’s fine I’ll do it” 

And to think, I was pregnant with her while in school myself, it’s quite a beautiful thing. Everybody has  their destiny and I’ll never stand in her way. She came to this world through me, not for me. She’s here to live her own life and I can’t tell her how to do that, I can only offer advice and guidance.  

How do you deal with the hype, the critics etc? I mean the other day we bumped into a dude who was claiming that “okay i saw her smoke something that looked like dodgy, its time to make a story out of it” When you know people are out to try and get whatever they can to ruin your career?

Shame, you know what? Firstly, with people like that, the only thing you can do for them is pray for them. I pity them more than anything. If you pride yourself on destroying other people it means you must have had a lot of practice destroying yourself. You’ve got to be under someone else to bring them down. I feel bad for them, but I hope that God can protect me and keep me going. 

How I deal with it? Since I was 15 doing modelling, I lost friends at a young age. We all have a dream and then it works out for one of us and the others aren’t so happy. I’ve had to deal with that since I was 15, so I have some sort of foundation. I just focus on what I want and what I’m doing. The people I have around me are a big reason why I’m still here. 

People will talk and there will be another headline next week. I’ve just got to focus on what I want and what I’m doing. You lose people, you fight with people, you’ll love people but as long as you continue growing that’s the most important thing. 

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Is it worth it all though in the end? Don’t you get bored of going to the events or having creepy guys ogling at you the whole time? 

You know there’s something I feel guilty about; it’s that I hate taking pictures! Like when someone says “Hi Pearl can we take a picture”. As much as I know it’s the right thing to do, and it won’t take much out of me- I just find that sometimes those are the very same people who buy the paper and laugh or tweet about it, after you took 20 seconds out of your life to take that picture with them. They will buy the article and say “I always knew she was up to no good!” 

Sometimes its the people who are good through and through, and those are the people who keep you going as well. 

Of course it has its perks too; you got to meet Mariah Carey! How was that? did she teach you the high note? 

I think everyone is most jealous of that one! I don’t think she was a great interview- not because of her per se, but she was extremely exhausted at that time. It was around 4am and we were both tired and to keep on going she had a few glasses of champagne. She was such a sweetheart though and you could see she was a really nice person. 

It was a great moment for me to meet her but she didn’t sing for me! 

You’re famous in SA for being a very talented all rounder. Who would you say is your Hollywood counterpart? 

I think I take elements from some of my favourite celebrities. I think it’s a good thing that I don’t know how to answer this question. I take little things from a few people. Beyonce’s work ethic, Rihanna’s honesty with the world, there’s Kevin Spacey and of course Meryl Streep- who could play Batman and still win an Oscar. It’s a bit of everything. 

How does it feel to be name checked in a song? 

Are you talking about the Ricky Rik Song? I think I get Tweeted those lyrics 10 times a day! I know the song is called Hangout but I’ve yet to actually hear it, I need to check it out! I just laugh it off though.