Johannesburg - TV presenter, Lalla Hirayama has spoken out about her early teen years, describing how she was constantly bullied at school.
Lalla, who is a judge on SA's Got Talent and a host on V-Entertainment, described how she was constantly asked what she was. "I have a mixed heritage and the kids at my school would poke fun at that calling me 'half-breed.'"
Speaking on TV show, My Story, Lalla says it wasn't just about her ethnicity, but also kids just being mean. "I got to school one day and someone had written on a wall 'Lalla is a whore.' I got home and told my parents I just couldn't deal with it. It was a terrible time."
It was at that point when Lalla's mom decided to take her to her hometown in Japan. But even that wasn't an easy transition. "It wasn't Tokyo. It was a small place where English wasn't spoken and I battled to fit in."
But it was there that Lalla discovered her love of dance and when she came back home she started a dance crew.
In the interview, which was recorded before she broke up with her boyfriend, Chris Nkosi, Lalla admitted that having a relationship in the public eye is difficult. "It's difficult but I'm not going to hide my relationship just because I'm on TV."
Earlier this week The Juice revealed that Lalla had broken up with her boyfriend of five years, with friends saying that she had found out about his 'roving eye.'
Since the news broke, Lalla posted this snap of herself in a bikini saying that she was taking some time for herself.