When some people look at Nomzamo Mbatha, they might see someone who is living the life. She stars in one of Mzansi's most loved soapies, gets to travel the world and often mingles with some of the best stars in the TV industry.
However, it hasn't always been all glitz and glamour. At a Nedbank Talk for Success, Zamo shared that she struggled financially when she started working on Isibaya.
"First year at Isibaya I earned peanuts, but I was working hard. Most months, my bank account was at a minus. And can you imagine, uNomzamo Mbatha wonke pho, at a whole event without a black cent. But you walk like you've got it..."
She explained that there months where she was at a minus.
"Do you now why?" she asked the audience. "I was underpaid, I was overworked, but it was fine, it was my way of film school. I was learning, I was in the battlefield, I was shooting in the gym. And the problem was, there was a demand - 'there's this new girl, we want to book for this, A, B and C but she's not available'. So the value of my time was undervalued. I was stuck on set, I couldn't go out there and compensate for the money that I was losing out on," the TV personality explained.
At this time, it seems like the audience couldn't believe what was coming from the actress' mouth.
READ: Nomzamo Mbatha is not ready for a SAFTA....yet.
Zamo continued: "It's not until the second year when I left Isibaya, and I went and I got my nice-nice projects - Umlilo, movie - it's not until then that I understood the value of my time. That actually, me just sitting here is costing me a good R35 000.
In the third year I went back and I said 'ah, you know, to compensate me for my time, for me to say no to another gig, this is how much I think my time is worth," she said.
She also mentioned that no one knows how much she gets paid, adding that she lives a good life. "At 26, everything that I wanted, everything that I had imagined, is happening. I'm travelling the world, I'm travelling the world with my job nje, which is great."
Image Credit: Instagram