'It was a no-brainer for me' — Thuso Mbedu shines the light on HIV/Aids crisis

Thuso Mbedu was recently part of an event aimed at shedding light on the HIV/Aids crisis.

She said on Instagram it was an honour to be present at The Elton John Aids Foundation event because the subject matter was close to home for her.

“Yesterday I was invited by the @ejaf to be one of the presenters shining a light on the HIV/Aids crisis. When the invitation came in, accepting and honouring it was a no-brainer for me as I lost a family member to the AIDS virus less than two months ago.

“Yes, leaps and bounds have been made in terms of educating and aiding people living with HIV/Aids but there’s a lot more that still needs to be done. Keep educating yourself and those around because if you know better, you do better. Thank you to Brooke Shields who was a lovely co-presenter. I was also very happy to be able to wear a South African designer on that carpet. Thank you Haute Afrika,” she said.

On its Instagram the foundation said the night was a success.

“What a night! #EJAFOscars was a magnificent party full of love and magical memories that we will cherish. Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we raised $9.1m (about R167.5m) towards our mission to end the stigma and health inequalities that stand in the way of us ending Aids. Thank you from us all.” 

While guest appearing on Trevor Noah's late-night show Thuso made her plans known. 

She said she was determined to use her acting to change society and to be intentional with the characters she takes on instead of caring more about the money.

“I want to create the stories that are innately in us, because growing up in this industry you believe you can be anything until you get into the industry and they tell you, no, you can’t,” she said in the sit-down interview.

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