Londie London Opens Up About Raising Son with Autism

South African reality TV star and singer Londie London has opened up about her journey as a mother and raising her son, Uminathi, who is autistic.

Londie London spoke about her personal experiences during an interview with radio presenter Relebogile Mabotja on the Relebogile Mabotja Podcast. The star reflected on motherhood, her time on The Real Housewives of Durban, and the lessons she has learnt while supporting her son.

Londie London first spoke publicly about Uminathi’s autism on her reality TV show, Life with Londie. During the podcast interview, Relebogile asked her about discovering that her son was autistic and how the experience shaped her journey into motherhood.

Londie explained that she began noticing differences in her son’s development when he was still a baby.

“When he was still a baby I noticed at like 9 months. He was very active but paid very little attention when you would say ‘come here let’s do this.’ For me I was like wow, why is my son not communicating in the same way that I’m used to other kids communicating.”

She went on to explain that Uminathi initially appeared to be developing normally before she noticed changes in his behaviour.

“At 9 or 10 months he started saying words then we got excited. Everything was fine, the development and everything was proper. Then it almost felt like he was backtracking but then I noticed that when we’d go out in public spaces then he would get agitated.”

Londie said she began paying close attention to her son’s behaviour and documenting what she noticed.

“I noticed a pattern. My son doesn’t like busy spaces. I started taking notes and I would journal everything. Then I started to Google and then Autism kept popping up.”

She also spoke about seeking professional support for her son, including speech therapy. According to Londie, finding a paediatrician who had experience with autism helped her better understand how to support Uminathi.

“We’ve been to speech therapy and the speech therapist was even finding it hard to make him focus. I had to find a peadetriction that has a child with autism and then she understood how to treat him and since then I’ve noticed a huge change.”

Londie also revealed that she attends therapy herself as a parent. She explained that therapy has helped her navigate motherhood, understand autism better and learn more about her son’s individual needs.

The reality star said understanding Uminathi’s patterns and learning what he likes has also helped her support him.

Londie shares two children with her ex-fiancé and businessman Hlubi Nkosi. Their firstborn son, Uminathi, is five years old, while their daughter, Bomikazi, is four.

Through her experience, Londie has continued to speak about the importance of understanding children with special needs and addressing the misconceptions and knowledge gaps surrounding autism.