It used to be that Nonhle Thema was it. As in the ''It'' girl: beautiful, friendly, telegenic and on her way up. She was dark and lovely.
Now, after a disastrous attempt at a laughable reality show that had critics pounce on her badly produced attempt to try and make it in Hollywood, Nonhle Thema - who oddly refers to herself as a ''reality TV star'' - seems to have taken it very personally. It would seem that she's damaged where it matters most: on the inside.
How else to explain Nonhle Thema's sudden ego-filled rants that has industry insiders not just sniggering, but many now openly wondering whether she's deliberately trying to destroy her brand so carefully built up over years. Is the presenter of V Entertainment on Vuzu (DStv 123) on weekdays at 18:00 even self-aware enough to realize that's she's now pro-actively starting to damage her likeability factor - and in fact sabotaging her career? What on earth, are people wondering, is going on with the former nice girl Nonhle Thema ...
The South African television and entertainment industry is agog over what appears to be Nonhle Thema's friendly-face self-destruction. In a frenzied, ongoing flurry of relentless, and often scathing remarks on social media - most notably her Twitter feed - Nonhle Thema has been lashing out daily at seemingly everybody and everything, even attacking traditional media.
Nonhle Thema's self-delusional rants and raves range from first person delusions of grandeur (''all my twitter antics have made me powerful'' / ''I'm the greatest'' / ''I'm a power freak'' / ''I made over 10 million rands as the face of Dark and Lovely'' / ''Nonhle Thema brand is worth a fortune'') to the embarrassingly grandiose (''When I'm on TV doing what God has created for me it's like walking on water'') to the vapid and blatantly vain (''I'm rich, young and black. I hope the press will use my good pics'') - and even the downright ominously sad (''I feed off your negative energy. It make my ego grow bigger'' / ''The more hate you give me the more power you give me'').
Is Nonhle Thema's Twitter madness a desperate cry for love?
In odd, self-referential tweets from her such as ''The most hated TV star is actually the most loved'' Nonhle Thema seems to take pity on herself while she frames herself as some kind of victim. An impervious victim, but a victim no less - a melancholy star who has to endure the trappings of fame and a world that doesn't understand or truly appreciate her. This is a new role that Nonhle Thema now seems to craft out of her daily puerile Twitter tirades against all the ''haters'' - anyone and anything who dare to oppose her view.
It's not too late however for Nonhle Thema to change Twitter tact and undo the recent damage. One wonders whether the people around her, like an agent, or people close to her, are really aware of the infusion of negativity and dislike that Nonhle Thema is building under (former?) fans; how the Twitter behaviour is not scaring as much as making many people in the industry suddenly nervous about possibly working with her.
Come on Nonhle. You say you can walk on water. Stop the Twitter trash talk and focus your energy and attention on being the great girl that we as viewers fell in love with when you first burst on the scene with Channel O. Behind the inexplicable Twitter craziness there's a girl who's dark yet delightful. And lovely.
[I've asked Vuzu whether the TV channel has any comment on Nonhle Thema, specifically her out-of-character social media behaviour. ''What Nonhle Thema tweets at her personal capacity on the social medium (Twitter) are her views and the comments expressed there do not represent those of the channel (Vuzu),'' says Vuzu.]
