Popular South African DJ Lamiez Holworthy has shared the painful challenges she faced growing up in a predominantly Indian community, where she experienced rejection and prejudice, even from her own family. In an emotional podcast interview, Holworthy opened up about how her mother’s Indian heritage led to severe alienation and hardship during her childhood.
Born in Eersterust and raised in Laudium, Holworthy struggled with the prejudice of her mother’s family, who rejected her because of her appearance and mixed-race background. According to TshisaLIVE, Holworthy explained how the rejection was so intense that her family resorted to creating a false narrative about her origin.
“People think white people are racist, but Indian people can be worse. Some coloureds can be worse, and I experienced the worst from my family,” Lamiez said. “My mom had to choose between having me and her family. It was terrible. They wrote my mom off. I was the black sheep of the family. I looked black, and I didn’t have their kind of hair, which made it worse.”
She recalled how her relatives went as far as spreading rumors that she was the product of rape to explain her appearance. “They would tell people that I was a product of rape. I first heard it from my Indian cousin when everyone in school kept asking how come I was black while my cousins are Indian.”
Despite these traumatic experiences, Holworthy credited her mother with providing a loving, stable, and supportive home environment. “My mom had to hide for the longest time, but she chose me, and she continued to choose me. My mom raised me with so much love that I could not tell a difference between myself and my siblings. My mom has always been ready to go to war for me.”
Holworthy also shared the financial difficulties her family faced when her mother was retrenched from her job just before her matric year. This setback threatened to derail Holworthy’s dreams of studying in New York, a dream her mother had made possible by buying her a plane ticket.
“I initially wanted to be an entertainment lawyer. On my 16th birthday, my mom bought me plane tickets to go study in New York. Then she got retrenched. Not only did it mean New York was not happening, but it also meant studying at that time was not happening. The municipality would come and switch our lights off. We’d sit in the dark for weeks.”
Despite these financial struggles, Holworthy’s mother ensured that her children never felt the weight of their hardships. “In the darkest of times, my mom would tell us how she was going to fix it and we had no doubt she would. She’d make the most out of the little things. I grew up in a very happy home. I come from love.”
Reflecting on the difficulties, Lamiez now appreciates how those experiences shaped her into the person she is today. “There are so many things that my mom and I had to endure, and now that I’m older and God and my ancestors have shown up for me, I understand why things had to be so tough. I understand why things happened the way they did. I wouldn’t be who I am if it weren’t for those things. I wouldn’t be who I am if I didn’t know what it’s like not to have.”
