Our Marriage Is On The Rocks

Actor Mutodi Neshehe and his wife, Leslee, open up about their marital woes.

- Hopewell Mpapu

THEY were once a golden couple with an exciting future: he a talented actor and budding businessman, she a newly-qualified psychologist eager to help people in her adopted country.

She gave up her home and her family in America when she fell in love with Mutodi Neshehe and followed him halfway across the world. For 13 years they seemed the picture of contentment as they raised two young daughters in their double-storey dream home with five bedrooms, four bathrooms and sweeping views in the exclusive Casabella Estate in Honeydew Manor, west of Joburg.

But these days, filmmaker and former Muvhango star Mutodi (42) barely has a good word to say about his wife, Leslee (42) – and in the course of an extraordinary interview – the couple publicly air their disillusionment, hurt and anger.

“I feel overwhelmed as I’m the only one handling all the responsibilities of the household and it’s weighing me down,” he tells us.

Leslee isn’t there when we arrive at the family’s designer home – she’s out running errands, Mutodi says – but after a while she walks in, glamorous in a black maxidress.

She greets us with a smile but is baffled by our appearance and it’s clear she had no idea we were coming.

“When did you guys schedule an interview?” she asks. Her husband explains we met up at the Saftas in Sun City recently and he wanted to speak to us about their relationship.

There’s palpable tension between the pair as she settles down on the sofa next to her husband and the atmosphere is frosty and awkward.