When she got married to a person who she thought was the love of her life, nothing prepared her for the current toxic cycle she is in.
It was all a fairytale. She was living with her Prince Charming, working hard in her partner’s company so that they have a beautiful, secure future.
But now they are constantly at loggerheads, she is stranded, doesn’t have her place and her husband doesn’t show up to family meetings set up to sort out their issues.
Every week there is a statement being issued either by the producer of The Lion King Lebo M or his estranged wife, Pretty Samuel.
The last time she spoke to Drum, she was waiting for the families to meet and discuss how they were going to solve their matters going forward.
“The families were supposed to meet on 2 September. I travelled to eShowe in KwaZulu Natal for the meeting. And as you would imagine eShowe is in the middle of nowhere, when I got home there was an agenda. Everyone that was listed on the agenda from my side of the family attended the meeting. However, my elders waited the whole day for the Morake family to arrive and they never showed up. We have a mediator who then called Lebo to find out if they would be attending because we were waiting for them. Lebo confirmed to the mediator that his family will not be attending that 'stupid meeting'.”
Speaking to Drum, Pretty says she then told her family because they were hoping that the families would meet.
She says she knows that her family was trying to bring peace and see how they can get involved in trying to mend the relationship and see where the issues are.
Read more | Lebo M's wife Pretty Samuels waits for family meeting amidst divorce, muthi and police drama
“After the Morake family didn’t show any interest, my family released me to do whatever I wanted to do moving forward in the marriage. My family is saying they will support me with whatever I decide to do because I received the divorce summons while my family communicated with them about the meeting. The summons was unexpected because we were all waiting for the meeting. Now we are dealing with illegal eviction and now the divorce.”
She says when Lebo evicted her from the house, he also evicted her son whom they lived with in the same house.
“He said my son should move to the apartment in Fourways so that he doesn’t get caught up in this mess. I was surprised, I was in KZN when my son moved to that apartment and I spent R200 000 on renovations. I got a call that Lebo kicked my son out of that apartment. My son was evicted because I am in KZN with my family, he sent an email to security telling them that nobody should be in that apartment or living in it. I called the mediator, and Lebo told the mediator that he was not aware that my son is living in that apartment, but he is the one that suggested that my son moves there.”
She says after releasing a huge sigh that her health is deteriorating, she spends most of her time in bed and now has episodes of depression because she is not able to process everything that is happening.
“When all of this was happening, I was at home in bed not feeling well. My son ended up in hospital because he was stressed, and after all that Lebo still blamed me for my son ending up in hospital. He says I should’ve been there with my son. Now I am still solving my issues, I have a friend I am currently living with. It is uncomfortable because I am invading a friend’s space who lives with their family, and I am not her responsibility. I have a husband, whether we are going through whatever we are going through he still needs to take care of me. I have worked very hard in his company trying to build the company so that he can focus on the music part and not behind the scenes. I have made sacrifices in that marriage without earning a salary from his company.”
Pretty says last week Tuesday they appeared in court; she had applied a protection order against Lebo M because she felt that this whole drama was abusive of power and abusive behaviour for him to just evict her from their home.
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“He evicted me and didn’t provide alternative accommodation. He is abusing power because he had said he was evicting me with immediate effect, which he did. He evicted me while I was on my way to KZN to my family, and I hadn’t had time to address those issues. When I came back to Johannesburg, I got legal advice that I should apply for a protection order which he opposed.”
She says she doesn’t understand why she was evicted and thrown out of the house that she is a co-tenant in.
“I am a co-tenant to the house at Waterfall, it's not a house that he owns. It is a house that was paid for by Prime Media as part of the reality show for the entire family. I have co-signed as a co-tenant, he had no right to kick me out the way that he did, that was the family home.”
