Thuso Mbedu opens up about her 'darkest' year: 'I'd lost all hope'
"The only reason I didn't take my life in 2016 was my sister," Thuso Mbedu tells Emmy magazine in an interview.
Thuso Mbedu has scored her first-ever US magazine cover.
The KwaZulu-Natal actress is Emmy magazine's latest cover star. Emmy is the magazine of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Stars such as Kate Winslet, Angela Bassett, The Rock, and Jason Momoa have graced the cover.
And now we can add South Africa's very own Thuso Mbedu. Thuso is the star of Amazon Prime's new series, 'The Underground Railroad'.
Thuso was also recently cast alongside Academy Award winner Viola Davis in Gina Prince-Bythewood’s upcoming film, 'The Woman King'.
READ: Go girl! Thuso Mbedu graces cover of Vogue magazine
Thuso told Emmy magazine that her journey to the top was not a smooth one.
She revealed that after studying the performing arts at Wits, she had one of her "darkest years" in 2016.
Thuso says she was unable to find work for six months as casting briefs stopped coming in. She had also lost her grandmother two years earlier.
The death of a friend's mother also pushed her over the edge.
The 29-year-old says she "made friends with this cough syrup".
"I'd lost all hope. The only reason I didn't take my life in 2016 was my sister. Everything that I've gone through, every person that I've lost, my sister has also lost. So, it wouldn't be fair for me to add my body to all the losses my sister has faced," she told Emmy Magazine.
Thuso's luck changed when she bagged a role as Winnie on 'Is'Thunzi'. The role earned her two iEmmy nominations.
And the rest is history!