The Sunday News
Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Correspondent
ALTHOUGH she might have had differences with her father in the past, Selmor Mtukudzi says when it was time for her to tie the knot with beau Tendai Manatsa, he never raised any objections despite knowing that they were destined for a life in the spotlight.
Tuku and Selmor have had a less than rosy past, with a split from a Selmor interview in 2012 reportedly taking years to mend. A local paper had claimed at the time that Selmor had said that her father had failed to support her fledgling career.
Last year, she revealed again that this was an incident that she regarded as one of her regrets in life.
“The fallout with our dad happened in 2012 when a private conversation I had with someone I considered a friend was leaked to the public.
“I was discussing an article that was written about me which said ‘my career wasn’t going anywhere, I should just give up.’
“This was one of many similar articles that were written about me then. I was really sad and I spoke to this person via our inboxes on Facebook and he copied everything we discussed and put it on his timeline. Imagine my shock,” she said.
The songbird revealed to Sunday Life that despite knowing that she and Tendai were both performers, Tuku had given his blessing when he asked for her hand in marriage, taking their matrimony in his stride. The couple, she said, had also not been phased by the fact that they both came from Zimbabwean music royalty.
“It’s nothing to us really. He would have reacted the same way if I was marrying anyone else. He was happy for us,” she said.
Despite coming from two famous families in Zimbabwean music, Tendai and Selmor have proved to be level headed and mature, breaking the stereotype of what many expect from unions. This according to Selmor, is because they had decided to pay close attention to social media, which has in the past led to the downfall of many a couple.
“We take control of what we post on social media and we try by all means to avoid being in the newspapers for the wrong reasons. Some things we cannot avoid being in the public but we feel we have been lucky that that hasn’t happened too often,” she said.
As performers that make their bread and butter in front of excited crowds, some who would be intoxicated, it might be hard for some to see how the two have avoided the entrapment of night life over the years. However, according to Selmor, the two had always felt secure around each other.
“We are always protective of each other. When in public I like to know that my hubby has my back and that I’ve got his. There hasn’t been a scenario where I needed to step in and I’m grateful that it’s been that way,” she said.
As parents, performing at night presents other problems. Although they live their life on the road, Selmor said they tried to spend as much time with their three children as they could.
“We don’t have a formula but we just make sure that when we get time at home with the kids we maximise that time, we try to be as present as possible,” she said.
While they seem to be motoring along at an unbothered, leisurely pace in their marriage, other celebrity unions have had unhappy endings. Selmor said the couple’s longevity was due to their ability to compromise when necessary.
“I think it’s mostly about ego and failure to compromise. Marriage is a give and take relationship where each person has to let go of some things to win other things. If you fail to do that and you let fame get to your head then that marriage is definitely doomed,” she said.
The couple, which likes to watch movies during their spare time, is inspired by another real-life Hollywood couple that had seemingly managed to successfully tame the monster known as fame.
“We love Will Smith and Jada Pinkett, we rarely hear any scandals about them and we love how they are so family oriented,” said Selmor.
