DJ Zinhle is head over heels in love with her beau Brendon Naidoo.
The couple have been dating for less than a year following Zinhle’s much-publicized breakup with baby daddy and controversy-prone rapper AKA in late 2015.
For their first Valentine’s Day together, Zinhle reveals that they opted to stay at home; lying in bed, dreaming up their future plans and eating takeaways.
“We had balloons in the house, red balloons, and we lay in bed. The one thing that Brendon and I enjoy the most that the world doesn’t know about is that we love dreaming. We love dreaming about the future,” Zinhle shares.
“So that’s what we did, we dreamed about the kind of house, family and life we want. I think it was perfect. I mean we do all the other stuff all the time anyway, so we gave other kids a chance.”
Zinhle adds that Naidoo is an extreme romantic and will go to the ends of the earth to ensure that she is happy.
Asked to pick the most romantic thing that Naidoo has done for her she pauses for a second, gaze into the distance before she replies:
“Brendon is Indian and they are as romantic as they come. One day I was exhausted from a gig and he said we are having dinner. There were flowers everywhere. When I walked into the restaurant there were petals all over the dinner table. I just felt like this guy is just going out of his way,” Zinhle recalls.
“But that’s just the most obvious one. For example if I want something and I say ‘baby I want this milkshake’ Brendon will get out of bed and just make sure that I get anything that I want. Sometimes I watch him with amazement.
“He’s really present; because sometimes you can be in a relationship with someone that is not present and not thinking about you. You can see that he thinks about me and cares about what I want. He is amazing.”
Zinhle is a hopeless romantic herself and wears her heart on her sleeves – or in this case nails. During our candid conversation at the luxurious 54 on Bath Hotel in Rosebank she spots interesting nail art in the form of a heart-shaped manicure. She stresses the importance of striving for self-love as she shares her message of love with us.
“It all starts with self-love. You cannot give what you do not have. You can’t give love if you don’t have self-love. Take care of yourself first,” Zinhle advices.
“The minute you encounter other people and they give you anything less than what you understand as love you will quickly pick it up because you know it and have experienced it yourself. If you don’t know self-love people will offer you anything and you will take it.”
On Wednesday, Zinhle re-launched her partnership with Albany for another year after inking a lucrative deal with the bread makers a year ago.
As far as music in concerned, don’t hold your breath on Zinhle releasing a new album.
Although she very keen on putting together an all-female album with the help of her close friend Oskido, her busy schedule just won’t allow for it at the moment. Zinhle is currently heating up the airwaves with her single Colours, featuring Tamara Dey.
“After the birth of my child a lot of things have shifted me towards the health and wellness space, because of how fast I lost the baby weight and how good I looked after I had the baby,” Zinhle says.
“A lot of women have been asking a lot of questions about how I did that. When I sat down with Albany and they said they were looking for ambassadorship with someone in health and fitness it just made sense. I want to have a conversation with women about how to take care of themselves. It’s not just about what you eat, it’s exercise, mental health and a lot of other things.