Brinnette Seopela spills the tea on the shocking catfight that rocked 'The Real Housewives of Johannesburg'

"The Real Housewives of Johannesburg" reality star Brinnette Seopela recently visited the "Engineer Your Life podcast", where she opened up about her life before fame, her failed marriage and the reasons why the fans never got to see season three of their favourite reality show.

"(My heart) is in a good space. It's fulfilled, it's super blessed, that's the space that I find myself in right now," she told podcast host Lungelo KM.

She continued: "It took a lot for me to get to this phase of fulfilment. You know, once you go through the most as a person, you go through a phase where you tend to self-destruct, and for you to actually get out of that hole and work your way up to being normal again and being sane again, being able to walk past, and being like, 'Actually I am proud to be where I am right now' - it takes a lot of dedication, strength, mental health.

"You must be very intentional about where you want to get to, before you get to it."

Young independence

The reality star shared how she worked during the school holiday and used some of her earnings to buy groceries for the family's household. 

"I started being independent at a very young age. I would work during school holidays at Woolworths, Clicks, so once you start making your own money at a very young age, it becomes difficult to be reliant on other people. My first salary was R70, and I would still buy groceries."

She also explained how being an only child has affected her love life. 

"In my recent relationships, people have said to me that I am a spoilt brat. It's not my fault that I am the only child. What must happen? It really does intimidate a lot of men, because they feel like, 'If I can't do it for you, or starve you from it,' there's someone who is willing to assist you, this person is not even another man or whatever.

"It's always my mother. So how do you compete with my mother? You can't."

Entry into "The Real Housewives of  Johannesburg"

On joining the reality show,  Seopela said, "I wish somebody had warned me. Sometimes I feel like had I stuck with my corporate self, maybe I'd be far in life, maybe more stable, maybe more into my marriage, or whatever, but you get introduced to this world.

"It sounds so glamorous, and everything is beautiful. All of a sudden, I've got a stylist, a make-up artist, an assistant, and you get into it, you do reality, but nobody warns you what reality comes with."

She added: "Nobody is telling you that you are literally opening your back and front door and windows and everything to everybody to say, 'It's okay, everyone, you are welcome, you are allowed into my space, come in'- you figure it out once you're inside.

"And then you're like 'What just happened?' and it's late by that time. 

She said that season 2 was "hectic".

"Season one, episode one - traditional wedding, last episode - white wedding, season 2, first episode - divorce. To be honest, I made the show. Season 3 would have been the ultimate season, I won't lie, even the cast members, everything was beautiful, even when we were shooting in a foreign country, the content, everything was just so beautiful.

"It was just so unfortunate that that incident happened, and we got blamed for it. Which I still don't think could be the main reason. 

"Which reality show do you know where people fight, and it gets canned? Honestly, show me one show," she questioned. 

The production company halted production in April 2021, "due to unforeseen circumstances experienced during the production of the show".

It was later revealed that there was a physical altercation between cast members Christall Kay, Gugu Khathi and Seopela. 

Seopela said, "They should have stepped up or stepped in. They kept rolling and following us. Even when she (Kay) was swearing at everybody, the production company, they just kept following her to the bathroom.

"She was swearing at Sonia (Mbele). She even beat up Jackie, a beautiful, young, blonde girl, who was our assistant at the time. She even beat her up for no reason. She was just going crazy, but we all know that she suffers from bipolar or whatever, so obviously when she's in that mode, everything just happens, and what do we do?"

"She even admitted to us that if somebody, maybe, doesn't take their medication, there is nothing we can do. It's not a bad thing; it can happen to anybody, but I just think that people need to be more careful while dealing with individuals who are going through that ... I honestly don't think it was an intended fight; it was just emotions that were very high at the time, and unfortunately, that took place.

"Am I proud of it? No, I am not. Will I ever do it again? No, I wouldn't, but what's done is done," she said. 

Watch the full interview below.