SOPHIE'S REBIRTH

Sophie Lichaba shares where she finds inspiration for her Lockdown role, and how she deals with trolls

- QHAMA DAYILE

SHE knows what it’s like it be called all sorts of ugly names. Since she slimmed down, Sophie Lichaba has become the butt of social media jokes, regularly getting laid in to because of her looks.

Still, when Mandla N messaged her to say he’d written a role about a physically and emotionally scarred mentally ill woman with her in mind, she was more than a little intrigued.

She wanted to push her boundaries and own the person she’s become.

After a break from acting, Sophie is now heating up screens in Lockdown as Palesa, a disturbed head nurse at a mental institution.

She’s always been a glamour girl but unlike many of the characters she’s played before, there’s not much glitz in the popular prison drama and Palesa feels ugly because of her facial scars.

It’s hard to believe Sophie (47) took on the role because at one point, the former Generations star wouldn’t be caught dead on TV without makeup.

“I was too afraid of what people would think or say,” she tells DRUM.

But she knew she couldn’t pass on the role of a lifetime. “It’s not easy to be called dead more than once. I took the offer to challenge myself,” Sophie laughs.

She’s referring to cyber bullies who spread fake news on social media that she’s dying.

But Sophie isn’t fatally ill, though she has diabetes, she points out, and she isn’t broke either. She took the Lockdown role after business slowed with her wedding-planning company.

“That’s how business works. I just needed a change and I definitely feel restored,” she says.