Sonia Mbele reveals juicy secrets about her ex-hubby who made her quit job over Menzi Ngubane

Phat Joe’s Cheeky Palate tackles many of societal stigmas and pokes into conversations that many, even his guests, always try to avoid. Who better than Phat Joe, a man marred with many controversies, to stir up these type of conversations that often raise an eyebrow or two.

His latest guests were Skeem Saam actor Cedric Fourie, Joe Kazadi, actress Sonia Mbele, and psychologist Buyisile Mncina. These guests touched on the challenges parents face when it comes to co-parenting and single parenthood.

In the latest episode of Cheeky Palate Sonia Mbele’s marriage to ex-husband lawyer Leslie Sedibe became the highlight of the show and as always Phat Joe’s questions triggered Sonia.

The panel was talking about finances in raising children and that topic became a bit too personal for Sonia, as she was once accused of marrying Leslie for his ‘millions.’

“People have always said Sonia married for money, I’m like where? That guy earned a salary. He went to work, would take his suitcase with him, come home, and then earn his salary at the end of the month. He was never a BEE or tenderpreneur, we both earned a salary.”

The topic got a bit too much for Sonia as she almost broke down, but held back her tears and continued venting. She said their marriage and divorce was very ugly.

“Who am I married to? When you wake up and then feel like ‘I love you today, but then I hate you tomorrow’ type of think. It doesn’t make sense how it could be that ugly.

“There was a time when we did not speak for years, and I am comfortable talking about this now, but there was a time when I wasn’t. The reason Ii am comfortable about this now is because my kids are grown and old enough to know, decipher, asses and decide…what I am saying now will no longer be a shocker to them,” she opened up.

Speaking about the nitty-gritty of their marriage, Sonia revealed that her ex-husband Lelsie made her quit her job on Generations as Ntombi because he was not comfortable with seeing her getting intimate with another man. Sonia played Ntombi on the previous Generations from 2003 up until 2009. Her reason for quitting the show was because her relationship with onscreen husband Sibusiso Dlomo, played by Menzi Ngubane was too uncomfortable for Leslie.

Sonia then revealed that he started off by restricting her from watching the soapie to then asking her to quit. His controlling ways were too much for Sonia to handle so she then had her mother to mediate to try and find common ground.

Sonia and Leslie tied the knot in 2006 after dating for a couple of years. Their fairytale marriage became sour and was hanging by a thread, till the couple who have three children decided to call it quits in 2014 after being together for 8 years.