We mostly think celebrities have it nice and easy in life. However, that’s barely true. This Generations the legacy actor struggled with depression for the longest time and no one even knew about it. He was at the height of his career and things were moving forward but secretly he was dying inside. In this article we will talk about how Generations star Andile Nebulane survived chronic depression and how it almost destroyed him and his life.
A quick background of Andile Nebulane
Andile Nebulane is a South African actor and MC most famous for playing officer Pele on Generations the Legacy. The actor was born in Gugulethu, Cape Town, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. He was born on the 28th of December, however, his exact year of birth is unknown.
Moreover, while not much is known of his childhood, we do know that Nebulane was a very joyful child and he was very close with his older brother Xhamela Deon Nebulane, or as he prefers to be called, Deon. The two seem to have been inseparable brothers in childhood even in adulthood. Nebulane has another brother named Wiseman and a sister named Nomthetheleli Eunice Nebulane. She is his younger sister, the two seem to be close too. And Nebulane often gives her a shout-out on her birthdays. [1]
How his career took off
Nebulane’s career took off really well over time. However, it wasn’t always easy. In fact his debut appearance on TV is said to be on the ekasi+’s drama series Hustle. So far, the actor has accomplished a lot of career success appearing in a lot of mainstream drama series and soapies like the phased out etv’s Rhythm City, as well as Generations the legacy where he got most of his recent or current success.
His net worth is estimated by numerous sources to be extremely high, up to two million dollars, which is about 35 million rands. We don’t know if the figure is accurate or not, however, we do know that the actor has purchased some of the most expensive vehicles over the years. The actor is also a fanatic for biking, and he has quite the collection of bikes besides from his cars. Even though he is arguably one of fastest rising stars from a very humble neighborhood like Gugulethu, he has kept his humility and hasn’t been quite a show off to those around. In fact he remains humble and thankful for all he has worked for. [2]
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How his depression began
Few years into the industry, andile was working on a project with a woman named Jenna Bass, the actor fell into a dark place. According To Nebulane, he himself didn’t know what it is he was going through. However, he had lost touch with reality. According to Nebulane, he started missing deadlines at work and sometimes turn off his phone for days. Nebulane says he was really good at hiding it that the people closest to him couldn’t notice except his friend Mbu.
“I guess I’m a good actor cuz no one noticed I was not okay, the only person who knew was Mbu, but he also didn’t know what was wrong with me” said Nebulane.
How he delt with it
Nebulane had only told one person of his depression, and that person was his friend. However, his friend didn’t know exactly why Nebulane was feeling that way. After all, he wasn’t lacking acting gigs at the time, he was you could argue, at a point of enviable success. However, all that wasn’t making him happy. Nebulane didn’t want anything to do with life anymore. However, he then later decided to talk to his colleague Jenna Bass.
And to his shock, Jenna had already suspected for the longest time that something was wrong with him. So, since Jenna’s uncle was a psychologist, she suggested that Nebulane talk to him. When Nebulane first heard her say the word psychologist, he felt offended and said to himself “does she mean I’m mentally ill”, however, he just decided to listen. After all that emotional suffering he had gone through, Nebulane wasn’t planning on going back to that state again. So, he gave it a shot.
Nebulane’s advice to those struggling with depression
After talking to her uncle. Nebulane discovered that he had chronic depression. The psychologist then gave him some therapy which eventually worked for him. According to Andile, the depression was so bad it could’ve taken his life. In the post Andile said “depression is real guys, it kills you silently, don’t be shy to talk about it.” He had lost all motivation for life. However, in all this, Nebulane encouraged people to educate themselves and others on mental health.
Saying “it kills you silently” and that now he was aware of it and wasn’t going to let it get to him anymore. Nebulane also argued that most previously disadvantaged community lacked the understanding of mental health and mental illnesses and had negative stigmas that needed more attention. However, he also stressed that such illnesses didn’t see Colour but the lack of education on them made them more lethal especially in the black communities and disadvantaged communities. [3]
How it was recieved
After sharing his story. A lot of people who had gone through similar traumas shared their experiences, stating that his story had inspired them to keep on going dispite the challenges. What we can all agree on is, Depression is real and as Andile said, “it’s important to have someone you feel free to talk to about anything”, this is very important as most people simply don’t have people they talk to.
