Bonnie’s book lets it all hang out
IN A world of dull and unnecessarily over-priced celebrity autobiographies, actress Bonnie Henna, in Eyebags and Dimples, is doing justice to the phrase “tell-all” – especially with the candid account of her troubled marriage.
The former Survivor Maldives 3 contestant who now lives in Cape Town – away from husband and fellow actor Sisanda who still lives in Johannesburg – is set to launch the book next Thursday in Rosebank, north of Johannesburg.
The pair met after Sisanda landed a lead role in the SABC 1 drama series Tsha Tsha and married in December 2005. Despite having separated before, they have not addressed nagging speculation of an impending divorce (and there is no mention of such in the book either).
Henna almost sounds bewildered as to how they’re still together – on numerous occasions praising her husband’s patience.
“There were long, cold silences in the mornings. We were newly married, supposedly in the honeymoon phase, yet I had no energy for anything, not for getting up, sex, eating – and – especially – talking to my husband.”
But they were unaware she had clinical depression, which was diagnosed later. She then adds retrospectively in the 239-page book: “The most hurtful thing for him had been my distrust of his intentions. I had accused him of not having my best interests at heart; I always suspected him of ulterior motives, and had often accused him of deliberately trying to hurt me. These dreadful moments had really scarred him.”
But she is frank too, in particular, about her calamitous dating record before she met her husband and father of their children:
ý She dated former KTV and then Radio 5 presenter Clenton Motaung, before she found out of his death in a newspaper. He died in a car accident.
ý She then dated another TV presenter Vusi Zion (formerly Twala). They met when she also joined magazine programme ZapMag. She says they drifted apart when she joined Technics Heart of the Beat. “My new-found independence made Vusi uncomfortable, as though I’d crossed into a space he couldn’t control or define.”
ý Johannesburg businessman Michael Strauss’s parents didn’t take to their relationship. They were “horrified” he was dating a black woman, Henna writes. His father refused to meet her, and his mother referred to Henna as her son’s “friend”.
The actress also looks at a failed attempt at cracking it in Hollywood – and the subsequent financial woes they found themselves in.