Gail Mabalane, like other women in the industry, has said women’s careers are often negatively affected by pregnancy in the entertainment industry.
Speaking in an interview on Afternoon Express SABC 3, the 33-year-old mother of two said film creators once changed their minds after casting her and giving her a contract…simply because she was pregnant with her first child, Zoe (3).
“I was cast. I got the role. They called me in to just read with another actor that they were busy casting. I went in and I was about five months pregnant. I just thought out of courtesy, because you couldn't tell that I was pregnant, I thought let me tell them,” she said.
“Literally the next day, my legal guy was busy going through my contract, so I had already received the contract, and they were like 'No. Sorry. We're just not sure. We don't know.' I'm not sure if it was 'we're not sure that you're going to lose the weight' but I just couldn't believe it," she explained to the show’s presenters, Jeannie D and Bonnie Mbuli.
Gail added that she would have given birth already and her daughter would be 5 months by the time the film was to be shot.
“But you know what was incredible for me was that these were women that were saying to me ‘Sorry, we’re just not sure if we’re going to be able to do this’. So I think going back to work two months later [after giving birth] was also just proving to myself that we can do it all – it’s not easy, it’s very challenging, but you can if you put your mind to it.”
Gail later shared that despite all the negativity, she’s grateful that her husband, Kabelo Mabalane is a very hands-on dad to their two children.
WATCH the full interview here:
