Yonda Thomas on meeting his absent dad: I just yearned for that connection
Yonda Thomas, aka Officer Bae, has been kicking butt on TV screens with his role as Majola on SABC 3 soapie Isidingo. And he recently revealed his softer side in a discussion about building a relationship with his absent dad.
Yonda told Metro FM's DJ Fresh on Monday that his dad sometimes saw him as a kid, but never reached out to build a relationship until he was much older.
"I stayed at boarding school and he showed up one day. He wasn't always around him and it was never explained. When I got older, he showed up. He showed up at hostel and was like 'Yo, hey! How are you doing man? I would like to sit down with you and talk to you about this whole thing.' I was a bit shocked."
He said that he was grateful that his dad reached out but said growing up he yearned to have a relationship with his dad.
"I don't know if I would call it anger (that he was not around), because my mom would fill all the gaps. I just wished that I could say 'my dad can do this too. My dad can do that.' I wouldn't call it anger, I think it was just a thing of wishing you could say something about him or you wish you knew something about him. I just yearned for that connection."
Although he might not have children of his own yet, Yonda says he is very hands on with raising his partner's child.
Yonda and his bae Emerans have been going steady for some time now and, speaking to Afternoon Express recently, Thomas couldn't help but gush over her.
"I like how she keeps pushing me to do things that I'm uncomfortable with. She trains a lot of people and she always pushes you to do stuff like that, like hey, you gotta push yourself to the point which you can't go any more. And I think a lot of that she's brought into our relationship, she's pushed me so much."