Kuli Roberts, a media personality, fashion and beauty journalist, actress, and TV host, died unexpectedly on Wednesday evening, shocking South Africa. She was 39 years old at the time.
At the time of publishing the cause of death remains unknown.
Roberts is survived by her two children, daughter India Tembela and son Laeun.
Roberts made headlines in late 2021 when it was announced ahead of the November local government elections that she had joined Mzwanele Manyi’s political party African Transformation Movement (ATM).
However, she vehemently refuted Manyi’s claims that she had joined the party which led to her being fired from her job at Sunday World.
Below are 10 things you should know about Kuli Roberts
1. She was born Nomakula “Kuli” Roberts on 16 December 1982
2. Roberts married Beyers Roberts in 1990, but the couple later divorced after the birth of their two children
3. Kuli Roberts became a grandmother when her daughter India Tembela gave birth in January 2017 to a daughter named Isabella
4. Roberts’ sister Hlubi Mboya is best known for her role as HIV-positive Nandipha on SABC3 soapie, Isidingo
5. In 2013 she was one of the competitors in the sixth season of SABC3 reality competition ‘Strictly Come Dancing’
6. Roberts starred alongside Connie Ferguson as Mildred in “The Queen” and more recently starred in the Netflix hit local movie “Angeliena”. She also starred in iNkaba (2012) and Beauty of Africa (2021)
7. She is well known for co-presenting TV shows What Not To Wear, The Real Goboza and TrendingSA
8. Roberts’ debut novel entitled Siren is filled with sex, drugs, alcohol and tabloid scandals
9. She dedicated time to fighting for albinism awareness. Her Twitter ‘name‘ was STOP ALBINISM KILLINGS
10. Her final tweet, posted just five hours before her death, read: “Love you, Des. All the best!”