For me, giving up was Strictly not an option, says Motsi
MOTSI Mabuse is flying high after being named the new Strictly Come Dancing judge but her journey to the top has been far from easy.
The star, who replaces Darcey Bussell on the panel, admits she has been dogged in her determination to follow her dreams as a dancer.
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence,” she wrote on Instagram. “Anyone that knows me knows that giving up is ultimately never an option.
“Nothing has ever been given to me. The journey is there to teach you until you are ready. Some lessons have been extremely uncomfortable.”
Originally from Mankwe, now part of South Africa, and brought up in Pretoria, she was expected to become a lawyer and join the family firm but her passion for dance took over while she was success. During her days as a dancer and before she became a star on Germany’s Let’s Dance show in 2007, she battled with her weight. Determined as ever, she hired a personal trainer five days a week as well as keeping up her daily dance training.
Motsi is now married to Ukrainian dancer EvgenijVoznyuk whom she partnered later in her career when they won the 2013 German Latin title. Romance blossomed and they have a daughter who is about to turn one. Looking back on her childhood in her 2014 book Chili In The Blood she said her siblings Oti, Star performer Motsi Mabuse, who is married to Evgenij Voznyuk, left, appears on the German show Let’s Dance 28, a Strictly professional dancer, and Phemelo were known as the “showgirls” of the family. “Often I’ve wondered where our showgirl behaviour comes from. No one in the family is afraid of an audience, neither a small nor a big one.”
She also recalled growing up under the Apartheid regime where she was forced to use a community minibus to travel to her convent school because she wasn’t allowed on “white” public transport.
Motsi also opened up about the suicide of her half-brother Neo who poisoned himself at the age of 18 at a time when she said he had surrounded himself with “fake friends”.
The 38-year-old, who speaks eight languages said she will add “her own bit of sparkle” when she joins the BBC One show for the new series.