Nhlanhla Kunene speaks about healing people through his character on 'Adulting'

As excitement for the launch of Adulting season 2 mounts on social media, Nhlanhla Kunene, who plays Eric on the show, speaks about his character and experience on the 18LSDVN Showmax Original. 

His character Eric is a bad boy who dropped out of varsity and finds himself carjacking to put food on the table. 

While doing research before joining the risqué series, Nhlanhla spent most of his time in the “hood” studying people who were similar to the character he would play. 

“I’ve somewhat become their voice. Society has crippled us as men, making us believe that we can’t openly speak about how we feel because we constantly have to be strong,” Nhlanhla said in a statement shared with TshisaLIVE. 

“It’s been amazing because there are lots of people who come to me and say ‘what you’re portraying is exactly what I’m going through’. When I meet people, they tell me about how they relate to his story. It’s an honour for me and I really appreciate that I’m able to heal a lot of people through this character.”

While playing a bad boy, Nhlanhla also portrays the role of “an incredible father” to Ncumisa who he had with his high school sweetheart.   

“My sister has a kid but she’s a bit younger than Ncumisa. That’s why it was naturally easy for me. Season 2 is quite a journey! The stage Ncumisa is in right now, going through her teenage years, contributes to it.

“Eric is entering uncharted territory as a father. He finds himself unsure of how to navigate fatherhood while raising a teenage girl. It’s an intense emotional journey that places Eric in a situation where he truly needs to show up as a father. You can be a gangster in the streets and do all sorts of things, but then you go home and you are required to be a father. Having to find a balance between the two posed a challenge but it was beautiful.”

The mindset of Eric in this second season follows his healing process after the loss of his baby's mother and finding the way forward.

Nhlanhla said he's learnt a lot about fatherhood.

“It taught me that fatherhood is not easy — especially when the mother is not around. Now you’re a single father to a girl child and there are things you find hard to talk about. It also taught me there’s no formula to parenting.”