Why Enhle Mbali is honest with her sons about her marriage to Black Coffee

Enhle Mbali Mlotshwa has been open and honest with her sons about the breakdown of her marriage to their father, DJ Black Coffee (Nkosinathi Maphumulo).

This is because she does not want 10-year-old Anesu and six-year-old Asante to blame themselves for the breakdown.

Speaking to True Love magazine as part of her cover feature for the June/July 2021 issue, Enhle Mbali is careful about how she refers to her divorce, taking extra care to speak about it almost euphemistically.

“They are aware because I don’t hide who I am from them,” said Enhle after explaining how she learned to do this during her less then voluntary break from acting.

“When you meet a woman you love, you don’t steal her joy and take from who she is. You build each other up and I think they get that because they see me working,” she said,

Enhle Mbali painted a pretty grim picture when she spoke about how she had to give up her first love, acting, in order to maintain “peace” in her marriage.

“There was a time I could not work. Not because I did not want to work but I was told ‘No, you cannot work on this and that’. It was not a choice I made. That choice was made for me and for the sake of peace, I adhered to that decision.”

What was once one of the most idolised relationships in South African pop culture quickly turned sour when previously private details of the relationship between Mbali and Black Coffee were laid bare in court papers.

We have since learned of infidelity, the existence of children born out of wedlock and alleged domestic abuse which led to the failed application for a protection order.

There was also that case of an unpaid electricity bill…

Her sons are not the only ones affected by how things turned out in her relationship.

“My mom is re-traumatised by what I’m going through,” said Enhle Mbali, in reference to how she believes her mother, Bongi Mlotshwa, is handling her divorce and the circumstances thereof.

“My challenges are usually harder on my mom than on me. I’ve had to be really understanding of her feelings. She has been through an abusive marriage.”

According to Enhle, her mother’s ex-husband held a gun to her head on the day she finally mustered enough courage to leave him and a young Enhle had to witness the incident.

“I had to beg him not to shoot,” she recalls before concluding that her mother is being re-traumatised by the nature of the breakdown of her marriage.

WATCH: ‘I’m done protecting Black Coffee’, says a teary Enhle Mbali

It was not all bad, however, as Enhle goes into detail about the benefit of that time off on her relationship with her children, what she learned from Jay Z and Beyonce’s marriage and why she is not bitter about how her marriage turned out. True Love is now on stands at most retailers and you can purchase a digital copy here.