Gabi Tshabalala on TV break: I guess I didn’t feel at home anymore

26 February 2018 - 08:00 By Kyle Zeeman
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Gabi says there was a lot of politics involved in her break from TV screens.
Gabi says there was a lot of politics involved in her break from TV screens.

Two years after actress Gabisile Tshabalala left popular e.tv soapie Scandal!, the star has spoken about her exit and the break she took from the industry, claiming there was a lot of politics involved and that she no longer felt at home.

Talking on Power FM recently, Gabi opened up about her exit from the show and said she chose not to fight the battles she was facing at the time.

"So many things happened that people actually don't know about. I was on Scandal! and then things stopped. I fell pregnant and there was so much politics behind the scenes, so I decided that listen I am not going to fight about this. I guess I did not feel at home anymore and I was like it's fine, let's move on."

She said she had been trying to have a child before she fell pregnant but did not understand why so often employers asked women to let them know if they planned to have kids.

"It is not fair. It is not that you can't plan for it but you are just going in and if the baby comes, it comes. These production people be on some: 'You must let us know if you are planning to have...'  I am having it without protection, so if it's going to happen, it's going to happen."

Well-known muso DJ Zinhle shared her own experience with this in an interview with Touch HD late last year, encouraging women with thriving careers to take time out to live and be themselves.

"I was also scared of making a baby as someone in the industry. I was chatting to a friend the other day and they were like, 'this is a problem with woman in the industry.' They forget their role of being a woman, like just being a woman. Now you just want to be the person in the industry full time. The industry should not rob us of that privilege, like being someone's wife or mother."

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