I have often stayed in relationships I shouldn't have, says Pearl Thusi

Pearl Thusi has opened up about the negative impact watching older women around her stay in unhappy and broken relationship has had on her romantic relationships. 

Speaking to DJ Fresh on Metro FM on Friday, Pearl said that as a child she saw her mother deal with the pressure of the belief that women had no choice but to stay in  unhappy relationships. 

"The one thing that I regret on my mother's behalf is that she didn't leave my father. I used to beg her to do it. Their relationship did not look like a lot of fun and it was affecting us. She would say she stayed for me. I loved my dad and so if she didn't want to leave earlier it was probably because she was worried how I would react, and I can accept that, but that doesn't mean she couldn't leave," Pearl said.

The actress said because of these experiences she has vowed to rather die alone than let her daughter think she has to stay in a broken relationship to force her way into a man's heart.

"If you are not happy, get the hell out, unless you are really really willing to fight harder to make it work, and that is what I want for my child," she said.

Reflecting on her childhood, Pearl said she grew up wanting to marry a white rugby player because of the way she saw white men treat women on TV. 

"As a young girl, I never saw black men do right to any of the women I was exposed to and I was watching the Bold and The Beautiful and Days of our Lives and these white guys were doing the (right) things. I think it was a subconscious thing," she said.