Mpumi Mophatlane, better known as Mrs Mops to the South African public, is one of reality TV’s most famous faces but she’s also a mother to three children. As the world celebrates mother’s day today, so is the busy body that is Mrs Mops.
Being a mother in the public eye can have its pros, and cons, and add the fact you are on a reality show about being a fabulous mom who’s got it all figured out.
“There’s no secret to being a mom. It’s just when you have to balance it all you have to be strategic and you need to have people around you that you trust and are willing to help you.
“I always say never be afraid to outsource a few things. You don't have to be like a superwoman and try to cook and clean and still be a CEO and still be a reality TV star and still try and run a small business on the side.
“You can't do it all because you will crash and burn. At the end of the day your kids and your husband need somebody who is well-rounded and full, because you can't pull from an empty cup.”
The mom of three advises other moms not to bite off more than they can chew.
“Outsource from the people that you love and trust and that's how you build a good team for you and your family.”
Mrs Mops has three children Marang, Khumo and Sekai who are in different stages of their lives 15, 11 and 6.
She’s learnt to parent each one according to their various stages of development.
“It's just balancing the three different stages of life is so difficult but what I do is I spend individual time with them.
“I'll have like a date night with the big boy and then I'll ask him about his day or his week or you know what happened and then I'll have a date night with my daughter and then I'll have like a play date with my little one.
“That's how I sort of get to know who they are and what's going on in their lives, because then I can't keep up if I don't do that.
“We can't do the same thing as a family because they get bored so easily because the little one doesn't want to do the one that does the 15-year-old stuff and vice versa. They are quite difficult but we manage.”
Before Mrs Mops was a public figure she could easily go out in her tracksuit pants and do school picks but now there is an elevated pressure, which she sometimes isn’t entirely up for.
“People have a relationship with you because you are on television and in their minds you're their friend and they have a relationship with you.
“Even though you don't know them, you still have to sort of keep it up, to not burst their bubbles but just to keep that up.
“They mustn't see you with tracksuit pants because you've, like you know, portrayed yourself as a public figure who's fabulous but sometimes on a day you don’t feel fabulous you just want to wear your tracksuit pants and chill.”
Mrs Mops does however allow herself to be and on days when she’s not ready to interact with her fans, she’s honest with them about not being comfortable to take that picture and she hopes they understand.
Mrs Mops opened up her world to the public on ‘The Real Housewives of Johannesburg’ Season 2 and also on ‘The Mommy Club’, which at first she was concerned about joining but oh what a successful journey that has been.
The season two finale of ‘The Mommy Club’ aired earlier this week and of course, it topped trends, with devoted viewers reacting to the drama reaching its climax.
Mrs Mops is more than happy with her journey on ‘The Mommy Club’ describing it as amazing. Letting her guard down on the show proved to be fruitful as viewers started to see more of who she was.
“You know we spend so many hours on set you know and we're together 24-7. So eventually people let their guard down and you get to know each other. I've learned so much from these moms. We get tips from each other on how to parent.”
On season two of the popular reality show, Mrs Mops took things back to her roots in Tsakane and introduced her parents to viewers.
“People were open to that and it taught me to be more open and to be more myself and not be so guarded.”
When it comes to the reunion, Mrs Mops is open to the entire experience. This isn't her first rodeo, she’s done three reunions.
With everyone coming together to lay it all on the table and confront people about what they said about you behind your back, things can get tense.
Mrs Mops describes reunions as being “intense” and a long day of filming with people who are guarded and also armed with ammunition.
“There's an upside to a reunion because you get to hash it out, fight it out and then so that you can start a new season on a clean slate. You apologise to whoever you've offended, you mend fences and then you move on to the next.”
Mrs Mops is looking for answers at the reunion and is ready to confront the people who offended her.
“I’m ready to confront a few people and say ‘Actually girl I've been so nice to you, why did you say this about me the entire season, when I've been nothing but nice to you?
On ‘The Mommy Club’ Mrs Mops launched her natural skincare range Nala Reign, which is made up of ingredients such as turmeric, charcoal, grape seed oil, shea butter and hemp.
After finally overcoming imposter syndrome, Mrs Mops plucked up the courage to finally launch her product, which was sparked by people’s constant interest in her skin.
“Last year, I decided I'm going to come up with a lovely formula and amazing skincare that is natural because that's what I use, just natural products.
The name Nala Reign stems from her family with Nala being her mom’s name her daughter’s middle name and her late grandmother's name.
“It's all-inclusive, it's for everybody, it's for black people, white people, Asian people, for males and females and it is natural, it's gentle and it's just beautiful. It's such a gorgeous, gorgeous product and I'm just so happy and proud to share this baby with the rest of the world.”
Mrs Mops introduced the business on the show and was sceptical and nervous about showing her product to ‘The Mommy Club’ ladies.
“These ladies are so judgmental because even if you do something like a dinner party or a birthday party, they judge everything, the decor, to the food, to the speakers, you know, they'll tear you apart
“I was like, okay, I need to up my game a little bit because I've seen how these ladies do it because when they go big, they go big. I just thought, the launch in itself would set the tone and then they can take it from there.
“It was meticulous. It was very clean, minimalistic, white with flowers, and they came through and they received it very, very well. They loved it, and they all went home with amazing, amazing feedback. It was very generous.”
Her fans have received her venture well, with the website even crashing due to the volume of users.
Mrs Mops has teased that her viewers shouldn’t worry about missing her on screens for too long as she has been filming something for TV.
IOL Entertainment