Zahara spills the tea about what drove her to alcohol

This past episode of Dinner at Somizi’s saw Eastern Cape-born singer Zahara bared her soul about how the pressures of the music industry drove her to alcohol.

For much of 2019, the songstress (whose real name is Bulelwa Mtukutwana) dominated entertainment headlines for alcohol addiction and dire financial struggles.

Sitting down with Somizi Mhlongo, the Loliwe hit-maker did her best to set the record straight.

.@ZaharaSA is reminding all of us that it’s never about what people think, say or do. #DinnerAtSomizis pic.twitter.com/7IFLdoTmMk

— 1Magic (@1MagicTV) July 17, 2020

“The problem wasn’t the drinking; it was what was making me drink,” she said.

Zahara recalled how between 2014 and 2015, she used to cry herself to sleep because of what was happening in her life at the time.

“… I feared that I won’t get air play on radio, appear on TV or get any gig anymore. But I thought it’s not even about that, it’s about the greater picture which is to inspire and give hope …”

She told Mhlongo that her problem was not with alcohol but was instead with the pressure that came with her fame.

#DinnerAtSomizis ❤️ep2 ft @ZaharaSA pic.twitter.com/7LTuvIbrpg

— Legend Manqele (@LegendManqele) July 14, 2020

“I had to deal with what led me to drink because the problem was not the alcohol. The problem was what led me to drink.”

The musician is on her way to reinventing herself, in spite of the hardships she endured.

Unfazed by the bad publicity she’d received in the past, she says she was now a changed person and not a prisoner to alcohol or the industry.

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