Legendary Amanda Strydom opens up in powerful episode of Net Mens
“I am Amanda Strydom, and I am just human.”
This is how the second episode of the new season of Net Mens, featuring Amanda Strydom as the guest, began. In the programme, she talked about her childhood as the firstborn in Port Elizabeth and spoke with heartfelt affection about her parents and siblings. She loved the stage and telling stories from an early age.
After school, she initially enrolled at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, but after a few missteps, she was suspended and completed her studies at the University of Pretoria. One of her lecturers, veteran actor Carel Trichardt, appeared in the episode and said he knew from the start that she was exceptionally talented.
Other guests in the episode included Coenraad Rall, her friend and long-time accompanist, as well as Karen Meiring, Saartjie Botha and Margit Meyer-Rödenbeck, all of whom have known Amanda through the arts for many years.
Amanda talked about the early years of her career and spoke with raw honesty about the miscarriage she suffered while married to copywriter Jeff Nauss. She began bleeding at her stork party in Port Elizabeth. Later, in Johannesburg, her gynaecologist broke the news that the baby, a boy, was no longer alive. “I don’t think I ever got over it,” she said.
Shortly afterward, she was cast in the TV series 1922 as Polish singer Elzbieta Karski, and, as Amanda put it, she clung to the role like a piece of driftwood. “It was one of the most amazing roles I’ve ever played,” she said.
Amanda worked through her pain and continued to find work, but everything changed dramatically when she shouted the word “amandla!” at the end of a concert at the Oude Libertas in Stellenbosch in 1986. “All hell broke loose,” Amanda said. The writer Hennie Aucamp – whom Amanda called “Master” – told her afterward, she needed to understand that nothing would ever be the same again.
“I tried to cope with it. Like with the miscarriage – you try to suppress and suppress. But when people repress hurt and humiliation, when your soul is trampled on and you keep it all inside, you’re building a bomb inside yourself – a bomb that will definitely explode at some point.”
She began hearing voices, and all the emotions she had suppressed, turned into psychosis. She was admitted to a psychiatric institution, where she underwent shock therapy, among other treatments. A psychiatrist recommended that she find work with a fixed routine – a 9-to-5 job that could restore her sense of dignity.
During this time, Amanda came to terms with being alone and made friends with her neighbours. When their house was sold, a new tenant moved in, and that’s how she met her husband, Tony de Beer.
She eventually returned to the stage, and her career went from strength to strength. Today, many regard Amanda Strydom as an icon and pioneering figure in South African cabaret.
The episode was more than just a collection of anecdotes and soul-baring stories. Amanda also performed excerpts from some of her most beloved songs, including “Ek loop die pad”, the very first song she ever wrote.
“It’s healing when you write about deep hurt – and then also manage to have a sense of humour about it,” Amanda said.
In her 46 years in the industry, she has never sold her soul and remains deeply grateful to everyone who attends her shows. Although she has already received numerous awards for her lifetime contribution to the entertainment industry, she’s far from done, she laughed.
Carel Trichardt spoke the final words: “There will never be another Amanda.”
The third season of Net Mens consists of three episodes. This is the second. The third, featuring actress Hanna Grobler as the guest, will air next Sunday at 20:00 on kykNET (DStv Channel 144). The complete series is also available on DStv Stream and Catch Up.
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