Reigning Miss SA Natasha Joubert has comforted an anxious and emotional Chidimma Adetshina, who has been at the center of nasty social media attacks over her nationality.
The tender moment was filmed during an episode of Crown Chasers. In it, Chidimma, fondly known as “ChiChi,” revealed how she had suffered suicidal thoughts as a result of her fragile mental health.
The Miss SA finale takes place on Saturday, 10 August, at the SunBet Arena in Pretoria.
In a segment called “Talk Your Worth” on Crown Chaser’s episode five, Natasha Joubert encouraged the finalists to speak about their emotions.
Unsurprisingly, Chidimma Adetshina, who has suffered xenophobic and Afrophobic comments from social media trolls, was one of the finalists who broke down in tears.
“Let it out,” encouraged Natasha, who embraced the 23-year-old in a hug.
Chidimma spoke about her mental health, revealing that she was in a place of “feeling vulnerable.”
She said: “With this week’s topic of mental health, I knew it was going to be a very intense one for me.
“I know what it’s like to go through depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. I still have scars on my hands.
“I’m not proud of it, but it’s my story. Bringing myself out of it was so hard.”
A proud Natasha told Chidimma: “You being here helps many other people struggling with the same thing.”During the episode, Chidimma found herself in the bottom three and had to motivate as to why she deserved a spot in the Top 10.
During her address to the judges, who included Lerato Kganyago, Leandie Du Randt, and Andile Ncube, Chichi revealed a bit more about her private life.
She said: “If I need to bring awareness to it [mental health], it needs to start with me. I want to share my story to motivate others to share theirs, too.
“There is so much more to life. I have a child, and I want him to see that you can get out of it. He needs to be aware of it, as it is the most important thing.”
Chidimma previously revealed that she left her marriage over unfair gender roles imposed on her.
She told Sowetan: “I got divorced in February. We were not compatible because he had this ideology of what an African married woman is. I didn’t want to be in a position where I couldn’t go out but had to clean, cook… that was just not for me because, as a society, we are way past that phase”.