OPW host Mdoda finds love and gets her groove back

It's been an eventful, if not tumultuous, four months for Thembisa Mdoda.

For a while it looked like the wild horses were running away with her life like chariots on fire.

She was thrust into the spotlight as the host of the ever-popular Our Perfect Wedding (OPW) on Mzansi Magic and had no sooner been thrown into a tabloid scandal involving her ex-husband Atandwa Kani and the paternity of her two boys.

But as I sink into the plush sofa at Hyatt Regency Hotel in Rosebank, Johannesburg the woman seated opposite me is a picture of poise and grace. Her gap-toothed smile tells of a self-assured woman on top of her game.

She's got a couple of things going for her. OPW is enjoying its highest ratings, she has a theatre production in the works, is finishing writing her own play, has been cast in two feature films and her production company Usakhe is blossoming.

What's more, she has found love.

"I'm in happiness with someone," she bursts into a soft giggle. I press on for more information. "I'm not gonna say any more," she insists. I protest.

"It's someone in the industry. It's difficult to date someone who is not in the industry because it's hard to accept and understand the demands of time. But he knows exactly my shooting schedule and understands."

Mdoda, elder sister of radio star Anele Mdoda, says being on OPW has been a soul-changing journey.

"I wanted to get there and f*ck sh*t up. I wanted to change everything about it and how people see the show. It's not about making people look bad. It's about love.

"I've changed so much and noticed things about myself. I've come into my own in terms of love. I take something from all couples.

"I've cried 29000 times and laughed even more. I didn't know how much of a dream job this was until I started working," she reflects.

She loves that she gets to attend all the weddings and play with languages and that she writes all her links on the show and goes with her stylist to source her looks.

Mdoda, whose first language is Xhosa, says she always loved languages and when her parents moved from Mthatha to Pretoria as diplomats of the Transkei bantustan, she got exposed to Sotho. The family moved up north to Polokwane where their father worked for SA Breweries.

They then trekked south to Centurion where Mdoda matriculated at Sutherland High.

She completed her graphic design degree at TUT and two degrees - in dramatic arts, and media studies and journalism - at Wits.

She says OPW gave her some training in time management. "I've had to learn to manage my time and not to waste words and energy.

"There's a lot of travelling and that's taxing but I still have to make time to do school work and activities as well as time for myself and my relationship."

The punishing shooting schedule typically lasts from Thursday to Sunday with a call time of 4.30am going well into the night.

She agrees the show has contributed in making weddings fashionable, "... but marriage isn't", she quips.

As for her future, Mdoda, who says acting is her first love, lets slip that she will be starring in a Mzansi Magic drama soon and is grateful for the part of Thabisile, the seer, on the now-defunct The Road.

"I grew so much as an artist. The show allowed me to come out of my shell and playing Thabisile was intense."

Mdoda has had to develop a thick skin as she navigated the scandal that consumed the first quarter of her year and she has come out of it stronger.

"I've learnt that I don't have to validate myself to anyone. I'm taking my time and doing it my way."