At the age of 16, Brenda Mhlongo had one true love: acting. She began to pursue a career in entertainment and ended up achieving knowledge, experience, and titles as an actress, dancer, and singer. As the years went by and her career took better shape, Brenda won two international awards for her performances on Broadway.
By the time she was 18, she had discovered another love while training to be the best at her first love.
Brenda Mhlongo married the love of her life, Edmund Mhlongo, in 1998. He was her theater director at the K-CAP Art Academy at Kwamashu, where Brenda studied.
Three kids later and about two decades spent in marital bliss, the merger of both loves seemed to have gone south, and one of them suffered for it as rumors began to make waves that Edmond had secretly gotten married to another student of his.
Brenda Mhlongo is a 44-year-old South African Actress
Brenda Mhlongo is a South African-born actress whose passion for acting dates back to when she was still a teenager.
She was born on August 14, 1980, and grew up in the Durban town of Kwamashu, KwaZulu-Nata. One of the constant people in her life while she grew up was her mother, who practically brought her up.
Brenda lost her father, who was a miner, at the age of 13 after he was brutally murdered upon his move to Johannesburg in search of greener pastures for his family.
At the age of 16, Mhlongo was convinced that she had discovered her true calling, which was acting. She then signed up for the Ekhaya Multi-Arts Center program organized by K-CAP Art Academy. The course was in her hometown, Kwamashu, KwaZulu-Natal.
Through this course, she got to live her dream of being an actress and soon began to conquer the world.
She Got Married to her Art Academy Director at the Age of 18 and Enjoyed about 2 Decades of Marital Bliss with Him
Brenda got married at the age of 18 to the director of the K-CAP Art Academy, Kwamashu, Edmund Mhlongo. They met while she was a student there, and although we do not have full information about how their relationship started and progressed to the point of marriage, we do know that Brenda is eternally grateful to Edmund.
According to the film and stage actress, her husband has been her motivation and a huge supporter of her since the get-go.
Obviously, seeing that she continued to strive to be a great actress after her education at the academy, her husband must have played a very vital role in this.
However, her praise goes deeper than just the preliminary stages of her career.
While Brenda toured across America, Europe, and Asia, performing the role of Rafiki, which she bagged in 2007 for the Festival of the Lion King play, her husband was very supportive.
It was at that point that she and Edmund realized the key to their happy marriage, and spending over 5 years apart only made their love grow fonder.
The actress admitted that she missed her family deeply and was safe on Skype; she only saw them twice a year. Somehow, she and Edmund found a way to make things work, and whenever they saw it, the flames their love burned rekindled.
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When Things began to go South
However, what seemed to have worked for this once-happy couple back in 2007 doesn’t seem sustainable anymore.
Back then, a distance involving continents worked well for their marriage, but as of the early 2020s, it wasn’t so.
Rumors began to make waves that the couple were no longer together after Brenda Mhlongo’s husband, Edmund Mhlongo, secretly got married to another woman.
The news revealed that the K-CAP Art Academy director had been secretly seeing another student of his and even getting her pregnant.
This reportedly happened while Brenda was filming in Johannesburg. According to a report, Edmund admitted to having gotten his student, Nkosi Mpanza, pregnant because his wife was away and he needed company.
Brenda allegedly found out that her husband had also secretly married the lady during the long Easter weekend.
Although the couple is not yet divorced, they remain separated as the Generations actress moved out of their home and back to her house in Port Shepstone. She has been there for a long time now, and it seems what’s left of the marriage might be a divorce.
Brenda Mhlongo is a Mother of 3
The union between Edmund Mhlongo and the South African actress saw the birth of three children. Their kids are named Nozibusiso Diamini Mhlongo, also called ‘Zama’, Snikiwe Mhlongo, and Nethezeko Mhlongo.
Her second daughter is as famous as she is and is widely known in South Africa as a YouTuber who has amassed a great following and fans.
She even once went viral for recording her boyfriend, actor Zamani Mbatha, whom she caught cheating with another woman.
Do You Know That She Has Been in a Number of Movies and Stage Plays
Since Brenda Mhlongo’s career as an actress propelled her into stardom, she has been a part of quite a number of notable movies, series, and stage plays in and out of South Africa.
Her first recorded TV role was in 2014 on the 19th episode of the 5th season of eTV’s eKasi: Our Stories. That same year, she got another role as a guest star on SABC1’s Ihawu, where she acted in just one episode of the TV series.
In 2015, after garnering wide recognition for her prowess and potential, Mhlongo bagged another guest role in SABC1’s first season of Uzalo. The next year, she got to play the role of Nandi in Generations: The Legacy, which is by far her most known and appreciated role. She played the role of Nandi for two years on the show before leaving.
When she left that role, rumors began to make waves that she was kicked off the show. This prompted the actress to give an exclusive interview to DRUM Magazine where she cleared up the air.
She revealed that she wasn’t kicked off the show but that she didn’t sign another contract with the show producers because her character’s stint in the TV series had come to an end.
After her role in Generations, she went back to focus on her foundation known as the Brenda Mhlongo Worldwide Foundation. She confessed that playing Nandi didn’t afford her the time to oversee the foundation, so she was going to pour her time into it.
By 2019, Edmund Mhlongo’s estranged wife went on to play the role of Zodwa on the soap opera, The Queen. She made her cameo in the third season of the series and then continued to be a regular in the fourth season.
By 2020, she took up the role of Pricilla Kamadonsela Bhengu on the e.tv series known as Imbewu.
She also plays Nomafu Hlophe on the TV series River.
TV aside, Brenda also had stints as a show host. She hosted certain shows as a guest host, and these include SABC1’s Zaziwa Music Talk Show and Top Billing. She was also a presenter at the SABC’s Crown Gospel Music Award show in November 2018.
As mentioned already, she also has stage play on her resume, and her role in the Festival of the Lion King earned her notable international awards.
Brenda Mhlongo was awarded the Broadway Spain Award for Best New Artist as well as the Broadway Spain Award for Best Artist.
