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Johannesburg - And Then Mama Said, Tumi Morake’s memoir, will hit the shelves in two weeks and will reveal the personal thoughts and private life of the comedienne, TV host, broadcaster, actress and mother of three.
“I carry the voice of my mother in the book and with it the indispensable life lessons that made me who I am today,” she told City Press this week.
In the book she talks frankly about the body-shaming she endured on the set of Our Perfect Wedding, the race row at Jacaranda FM, the Jaguar accident which cyberbullies said she deserved and the lowdown on her marriage to the love of her life.
“Writing about some of the intense things, such as body-shaming and cyberbullying was pretty cool.
“I started therapy some years ago so it was probably easy because it wasn’t the first time I was doing it,” she said.
Morake shared that she had never planned to write a book, but said she’s always wanted to preserve her memories of her mother.
“When I was offered the book, initially I was not going to do it but then I thought, let me just take the opportunity to tell the stories I have always wanted to tell.
“My mother was a pioneer in many ways; she might not have been a multimillionaire but she was incredible. And being raised by someone like that, you cannot grow up and want to be ordinary. I feel like I’ve spent my whole life trying to be extraordinary – like my mum.”
She also wants readers to understand how hard she’s worked for what she has, “to make people aware that things look easy but everything is conscious, nothing is by chance or luck ... Throughout my journey, at every point, there is always someone waiting to carry me through, hence I love to stay accessible to people who watch my shows so that I remember where I am from, because I am those people.”
