Chichi Letswalo is back with a bang

Before Our Perfect Wedding become a hit there was reality TV programme The Wedding Show.

First introduced in 2003, the SABC 3 show was hosted by bald-headed Ed Jordan and feisty doe-eyed beauty Chichi Letswalo.

After being off our TV screens for years, Letswalo is back on the small screen headlining Mzansi Magic's newest telenovela Isithembiso set to premiere in April.

However, Letswalo strongly insists that this is hardly her big TV comeback.

"I wouldn't call this my big TV comeback, but people will see it whatever way they want to see it. I took a bit of a break to go study," Letswalo explains.

"I have been back and forth between New York and South Africa. When I came to South Africa I was only able to do corporate. Now my student visa is up, I'm done studying and I'm back. I loved that, I needed the break."

After things got "stagnant" for Letswalo she decided to abandon her life of fame and fled to America in search of a new adventure. She enrolled herself into drama school at the Michael Howard School of Theatre, Film and Television in Chelsea.

"I did everything backward. I finished high school, then got into television and then went to go study," Letswalo recounts.

"The one thing that I didn't miss was the stagnation and the boredom. When I left I was just yearning for a new experience. I get bored every easily, that's just my character.

"Everything was just moving slowly and nothing was happening. Just what I was surrounded by wasn't working to me. I wanted growth. That's why I dropped everything to go study."

Isithembiso

For now, Letswalo is back as she focuses on her new TV gig. Her character Claudia Kunene is caught in a love triangle between Meshack Mavuso and Hamilton Dlamini's characters.

She auditioned for the role in early January and two days later she was confirmed as a series regular. Letswalo has starred in soapies such as Backstage and Generations in the past.

"I'm definitely back for good right now because of the project I'm doing. But I always intend on going back because I have fallen in love with New York," Letswalo points out.

"South Africa is my first home, I love it and I love working here. But now New York has become my second home. I want to live in both places.

"I must be honest already in the audition with both my co-stars Meshack and Hamilton the energy for me was already strong and powerful. I remember I walked out of the audition and said to myself 'I could do that with them everyday'."

She has also just completed shooting Nigerian film Fifty. If there is one thing she missed about South Africa when she was away was how welcoming people are.

"The thing that I missed was the warmth and vibe of South Africans. It just made me appreciate home so much," Letswalo says.

"Yes, even if we get irritable and fight with each other there is this sense of community. I find that New York is cold and rigid. I remember the first year that I was in New York I was in a depression for a whole year because people were so cold."

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