Khanyi Mbau the empowerment queen
TV personality invites fans into the operating room for plastic surgery
The queen of bling and controversy Khanyi Mbau says 2017 has been about empowering women for her.
We sit down for a heart-toheart at a medical aesthetic and holistic wellness centre, Anti-Aging Art, in the heart of Houghton, Johannesburg.
It’s a few hours ahead of her big TV moment on SABC 3 entertainment show, The Scoop, in which she took cameras into the operating room as she underwent a plastic surgery procedure.
Mbau is in obvious pain after going under the knife last week. She reveals to TimeOut that she had a breast augmentation and liposuction.
Mbau insists that her decision to film the procedure was not a publicity stunt, but was to empower women with information on plastic surgery.
“Tonight I’m going to show you these are the best doctors to go to, she explains.
“Don’t go to the cheap doctors. There are a lot of women who go through botched surgery because they are not well-informed.
“I always have women asking me how do I get this? How do I fix this? So I have decided to have an educational show on TV that allows people to see what you are getting yourself into. This is what you will look like. This is the pain you are going to go through.
Mbau says she’s the happiest she has ever been because “the universe will always put you where you need to be”.
She has found love with Tebogo Lerole. She lights up as she opens up about Lerole, who is waiting for her outside.
“I’m in love. I have got the most understanding man in life. To date someone like Khanyi Mbau is tough.
“I work too much and don’t have the time that a normal girlfriend has. He’s understanding and loving. He loves my daughter and my daughter loves him. He’s my sanity.”
Mbau’s daughter with her ex-husband Mandla Mthembu is now 10 years old. She is visibly overcome with emotion as the focus shifts to her daughter, trying to fight back the tears.
“Motherhood is hard. I find myself crying at times. My daughter comes home every Friday and sometimes I have bookings. So I have to drop her off at my mom’s,” she shares.
“Then when I come back on Sunday, I make sure her uniform is ready because she has to go back to boarding school.
“It’s hard, but fulfilling. Sometimes I find myself saying: ‘Mandla wherever you are, how can you honestly sleep?’ I want her to use my life story to empower the next generation.”
Mbau has just been unveiled as the face on Slimatone, a lifestyle brand which researches and develops wellness products for women.
From Monday, October 18, Mbau will host a new 13-part reality TV show The
Big Secret on BET Africa.
“At age 32 I’m a woman who is comfortable with whom she is. My only priority is to ensure that I’m alive in the next 50 years. It has become real in terms of blood pressure, cholesterol and things that are real around me. Because after you have worn the shoes, driven the cars, lived in the houses and been to the parties, what is next? Will all of these still be here at age 40?”