A mother knows

Erika fears her son Shawn is living in denial about who he is.

- ELRI BOUCHER

Corine du Toit (Jane Edwards from 2004-2008 in Egoli: Place Of Gold, 1992-2010) – has taken a break from acting for a few years to focus on raising her son Kiean (6), staying behind the cameras writing for series including Liewe Kayla (2013-now) and movies like Susters (2018). At the end of last year, she reappeared briefly on our screens as Erika, the estranged wife of businessman DeWet Basson (Dirk Stoltz). Since then, Erika has appeared regularly in Hillside, especially when there is drama with the Basson family. Now at the core of the drama is her son Shawn (Deànré Reiners) and his sexuality.

FAMILY IS EVERYTHING

Nothing is more important to Erika than her family, says Corine. “Erika’s biggest dream is to have a happily ever after with her family, but the Bassons are a non-functional bunch on many levels.” There are many skeletons in everyone’s closet and one of Shawn’s recently fell out: his “bestie” Llewellyn (newcomer Liaan Ferreira) showed up in Hillside in July to declare his eternal love to Shawn. Deànré says that his character is living in denial. “He does not want to believe that he’s gay, so he sent Llewellyn packing.”