Queen of gqom Bongekile Simelane aka Babes Wodumo had a lot to say during her appearance on Podcast and Chill with MacG.
The episode was aired on Thursday on the host’s YouTube channel. In the extensive interview, the musician tackled how Wololo changed her life, fame at a young age, and the touchy subject of her personal relationship with Mampintsha.
She said at the height of her success, during the time her song was featured on the Black Panther movie song track and meeting international stars such as Kendrick Lamar, she was earning about R1 million a week.
MacG was surprised by this, so Babes explained.“You can count R150,000, R150,000, R150,000 and you would find that on that Friday I have about three to four gigs. Saturday I have three and Sunday I have two.”
She says people couldn’t tell her anything because of the amount of money she was earning, she didn’t care about the haters. The artist says dancing, singing, and acting was her outlet because her father was a pastor and the expectation of “preacher kids” was high. She admits clubbing and the arts was her way to express herself.
Then onto the topic that people wanted to know about the most, her contentious relationship with Mampinstha.When asked by a viewer, on the podcast they are affectionately known as “chillers”, the person wanted to know how she met him.
“I was a video vixen, a model, a hustler and a promoter. I met him at a video shoot about 10 years ago, so I was about 16 or 17 years old.” Babes says when Mampintsha first caught her eye he wanted her in front of the pack in the video, jokingly saying she was confused why this “fat guy” was so interested in her.
The hitmaker admits she wasn’t attracted to him at all, a friend gave him her number and their romance blossomed from there.
The couple got engaged last year and the wedding will be broadcast on ShowMax. The wedding date will be announced soon.
Asked what her attraction is towards Mampintsha, she said: “He is funny, the amount of love he gives despite the mistakes, he gives so much love.”
The couple’s dirty laundry was aired for all to see when Babes had an infamous interview with former radio host Masechaba Khumalo in 2018.
When Khumalo questioned Babes about the alleged abuse she faced at the hands of Mamphintsha, she broke down and left the interview, clearly uncomfortable with the probing questions into her relationship.
When asked if she would do another interview with Masachaba, she wasn’t sure.
“We could twist each other a lot because she caught me when I was not emotionally well, I was going through a lot. What she did was wrong, you don’t do that. As an older sister she was supposed to call me on the side and say ‘Babes I’ve heard of a situation like this, are you okay?‘”
Babes says she hasn’t talked to Khumalo since. When MacG offered to call Khumalo during the interview she declined.
She responded: “Call her? I would swear at her, uyaphapha.”
In 2019 Mampintsha was charged for assaulting Babes when a video went viral of him physically beating her.