Close friends of both TV darling Boitumelo “Boity” Thulo and rapper Refiloe “Cassper Nyovest” Phoolo say they find it hard to believe that the pair has split up.
Thulo this week told True Love magazine that she had broken up with her rapper boyfriend, but insisted it was amicable.
However, two separate friends of the couple, who often attend the same celebrity awards bashes and functions, said they found this hard to believe.
One said that although Thulo and Phoolo had their ups and downs, their love for each other was still strong.
“I might be wrong, but I still believe this is a strategy for both of them to distance themselves from media attention. I find it hard to believe that they have broken up,” she said.
Thulo told True Love: “We broke up in December and I cried about it; I got angry about it; I tried to convince myself that it was okay. Then eventually you are just like, life actually continues.”
City Press saw the supposedly estranged couple canoodling at the Metro FM Music Awards afterparty in Durban last month.
The two couldn’t keep their hands off each other for hours in the VIP area. They spent the night hugging and whispering into one another’s ears, and left together in the early hours of the morning.
Thulo refused to comment this week.
“I don’t want to talk about the relationship any more. I’ve said everything I wanted to say to True Love magazine,” she said before hanging up.
Reports have been doing the rounds since December that the couple were no longer an item, and allegations of cheating were levelled at Phoolo.
However, Thulo said their break-up had nothing to do with Phoolo’s so-called roving eye.
But she did say their issue was one of “time management”, and they were simply too busy to see each other.
“Not once did I ever feel like he has cheated on me or was giving someone else attention,” she said.
But another one of their friends said the couple regretted the day they made their relationship public, and also questioned whether the two had indeed broken up.
“It became a strain to both of them. Sometimes the media forgets that celebrities are also human; they are far from perfect,” she said.
Thulo admitted on online radio station CliffCentral in January that she regretted allowing her romance with Phoolo to become so public.
“It was a big mistake,” she said. “I had never gone public with a relationship at all. This was the first one.
“I have always tried to leave it at speculation rather than be out there, so I really had to think it through. But in your mind, you’re like, you know what, if I’m going to do it, then I might as well not be afraid of showing it.
“In your mind, you’re thinking you’re sticking to it for the long run.
“The public has never been our friend,” she added.
When CliffCentral host Gareth Cliff asked her to describe their relationship, she said: “It feels like we’re in it for the long run. We just know what’s going to slow it down, and it’s not what people say.
“The only thing we know for a fact is that our careers are the only things that would get in the way.”
The two go back a long way and dated in high school six years ago in Mahikeng, North West.
Phoolo has hinted at winning Thulo back in numerous songs, with lyrics such as “I’m trying to give Boitumelo a baby”.
Phoolo did not respond to calls and SMSes requesting comment, sent to him on Friday and yesterday.