‘7de Laan star abused me’
The ex-girlfriend of 7de Laan’s DJ has revealed a shocking litany of abuse at the hands of the soap star
HE’S the guy with the dazzling smile, the charismatic star who lights up the small screen every weeknight in one of South Africa’s most popular soapies. His character Justin Booysen in 7de Laan has a complicated background and plenty of skeletons in his closet. But the lid has now been blown off what went on behind closed doors once actor Dann-Jacque “DJ” Mouton left the set of the show to go home – and it’s a shocking real-life tale of jealousy and violence against a backdrop of alcohol and drug abuse.
In an exclusive interview, costume designer Mercedes de Bruyn (54) tells of how her romance with 32-year-old DJ plunged into a living hell when he started attacking her at the home they shared in Fairland in Roodepoort, west of Johannesburg.
She alleges he chocked her, kicked her and bit her, forcing her to report him to the police seven times. She took out three interdicts against him and sought protection from security guards at the complex where they lived.
“I slept in my car many times,” she says. “I had my keys with me so I’d be ready to run and the guards would help me hide.”
She left him two months ago, moved away from Joburg and is rebuilding her life. She’s sharing her story now, she says, in the hope that DJ won’t do the same to another woman.
“I feel so weak for having stayed with him,” she says tearfully. “I’m angry. But more than that, I want to prevent him from doing this to someone else.”
Mercedes met DJ in 2014 on the set of the film Abraham – she was the costume designer and it was his first major movie.
She was taken aback when he started flirting with her. He was 22 years her junior and she couldn’t believe he’d be interested in her.
“I told him I was too old for him but he was persistent and charming.”
They moved in together after his critically acclaimed performance in the 2016 movie Noem My Skollie/Call Me Thief, a real-life tale of a gangster with a knack for telling moving stories to his fellow prisoners.
THE cracks started to show after about a year. The first time he turned violent was when he became jealous because she’d spoken to another actor. “He was furious. He shoved me against the wall and strangled me. That was the first time I went to the police,” Mercedes recalls.
People close to her were either aware of the abuse or strongly suspected it.
“She often had bruises or injuries but she’d make light of it,” one colleague says.
“People in the industry knew,” Mercedes acknowledges. “My friends and family begged me to leave him but I’d take him back each time.”
He’d beg for forgiveness and promise it wouldn’t happen again and she’d believe him. “He’s a good actor,” she says.
“The slightest thing would trigger him. I never knew who I’d wake up to in the morning. He’d have a go at me if I watered the plants too much,” she says.
He also often told her she was old and ugly. “That’s what I want back most of all − my self-image.”
She went to the police time and again and shows YOU the most recent interdict she got against her ex in November.
Alcohol and substance abuse made everything worse, she says. “He’d easily drink a bottle of whisky every day. I used to think it was the drink [that made him violent] but then I also found drugs hidden in his clothes.”
In June last year she emailed 7de Laan’s producers about his alcohol abuse.
“I’d like to bring to your attention that alcohol is used by DJ while at the studio. DJ has a SERIOUS alcohol problem, which leads to violence at home. We’re struggling to get it under control. I’m asking you to kindly help by not allowing him to have alcohol at studio, please?”
Her email went unanswered but, in a statement to YOU, 7de Laan acknowledged receiving the email and said the matter had been addressed.
“We’re not aware of alcohol abuse on set or in any department,” the statement said. “The quality of [DJ’s] work has always been to standard and we never noticed a change in his behaviour.”
Her eyes well up again. “He held a knife up to me at least three times. Once he stripped off all his clothes, screamed at me ‘I’m the devil!’ and bit me in the face. He locked me in the room and threatened me with a knife.
“He kicked me so hard on my coccyx it hurt for a month whenever I sat down.”
Last September she tried to commit suicide. She points to a scar on her wrist: “I tried to slash my wrists and he laughed because I didn’t know how to do it.”
The final straw came in November. “DJ was filling the kitchen cupboard with alcohol and I got very angry. I knocked the bottles out of the cupboard and he stood in the broken glass.
“There was blood everywhere. He throttled me again and shoved me so I fell and couldn’t get up for half an hour.”
At the insistence of her son, Jarryd de Bruyn (23), Mercedes packed up and left.
She’s living in Durban, has started a new job and plans to have counselling.
“I’m spending time with family too. I’m spoiling myself so I can get well again.
“I’m going to sit on my stoep, gaze at the sea and go for walks on the beach. I’ll give myself time to focus on me and in that way start liking myself again.”
THE actor is incredulous when we approach him for his side of the story. “I can’t believe she’s come to you,” DJ says. “She promised me she wouldn’t.”
He continues, “This is the end of me. My career is over.”
He won’t admit or deny whether he attacked Mercedes. “It’s all in the past,” he says.
“I never used my fists on her. She never wanted to listen so then I’d have to grab her hard.”
He denies threatening her with a knife, saying he’d been holding the knife because he’d wanted to commit suicide.
“I know it’s wrong but I abused substances and I have a drinking problem,” DJ says.
He adds he hasn’t had a drink in about a week and he’s not using drugs anymore.
“I hate the person I’ve become. On Monday I resigned.”
Representatives of 7de Laan declined to comment on this.
His career will be over anyway if YOU publishes the story, DJ says repeatedly.
“I’m struggling. I’m trying every single day.”
He wants to start working with kids, he adds. “I’m going to revamp myself and then I’m going to return and work in the theatre with children.”
DJ says he’s taken out a loan of R40 000 because, “I have nothing now. I have to do my laundry by hand.”
Is he aware that Mercedes is afraid of him?
“Why? I’m leaving her alone. I haven’t asked her for money even once, even though she said she’d help me,” he responds.
He wishes she’d given him another chance.
“I’m not asking for too much . . . Just have faith in God. Just have faith in this man,” he says, holding his hand to his chest.
DJ’s eyes start to well up again but he recovers quickly when a fan says hello to him.
“I’m desperate,” he says. “It’s the end of the road for me.”
‘Once he stripped off all his clothes, screamed at me “I’m the devil!” and bit me in the face’