In an exclusive interview, new mom ‘Zephany Nurse’ opens up to YOU’s Marelize Potgieter about the shock of finding out she was kidnapped as a baby, and how she feels about the woman who raised her and about her real mom, Celeste
SHE cradles the baby on her lap, wrapping a pink blanket around the little girl and peering down at her. “She’s so cute – so small,” she says. Dressed in black tights and a white jersey, her long dark hair tied back in a ponytail, the young woman looks like any other smitten yet slightly overwhelmed first-time mom.
Yet there’s something that sets her apart: this is Zephany Nurse, the girl who was stolen from next to her sleeping mother’s bed three days after her birth in April 1997.
Like her mother, Zephany is a young mom: Celeste Nurse was in her late teens when she had her daughter, then spent years looking for her until she was discovered. The details of that astonishing discovery made headlines the world over.
Zephany will turn 20 next month and, speaking to the media for the first time since she was found and the deception surrounding her upbringing was exposed, she says she’s a little overawed by her tiny daughter.
It wasn’t easy bringing this little person into the world, she says, gazing down at her daughter’s pretty face and pouting mouth. At first she thought, “Ha, she’s out! You’re out of me now and there’s less pain.”
Little Emma* was born in the early hours of 20 February, weighing just under 3 kg, and Zephany says she wanted to take her baby home straightaway.
“You love her and for nine months you’ve been waiting to see what she’s going to look like.”
But then she admits being a new mom is hard. “I’m not used to having a child. Usually when I’m in relationships I can easily walk away. Even with school, you can walk away from it. But with her, you must look after her.”
Denne historien er fra 23 March 2017-utgaven av YOU South Africa.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra 23 March 2017-utgaven av YOU South Africa.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
BALLON IN THE BAG
Manchester City midfielder Rodrigo Hernandez Cascante says his Ballon d'Or win is a victory for Spanish football
IT WAS ALL A LIE
A new doccie exposes the Grey's Anatomy writer who fabricated her life story
'I WILL NEVER GIVE UP'
After her husband, anticorruption activist Alexei Navalny, was poisoned and murdered by the Kremlin, she became the public face of Russia's opposition. In this candid interview Yulia Navalnaya opens up about life on the run, her perilous family life and why she's continuing her husband's fight to save their country
AGREE TO DISAGREE
Trevor Noah on how his childhood squabbles with his mother inspired his delightful new book
PAUSE THE CLOCK
Researchers have discovered that the ageing process spikes at 44 and 60. Here's what you can do to slow it down
MPOOMY ON TOP
We chat to SA's most popular female podcaster about love, loss and her booming success
MY BROTHER IS NOT TO BLAME
Tinus Drotské says his sibling, ex Bok Nǎka, is the victim in the brawl with a neighbour that landed up in court
MATT THE RECLUSE
A year after his friend's tragic death, the actor continues to shun the spotlight
A LEAP OF FAITH
After her husband tried to kill her by tampering with her parachute she thought she'd never trust a man again-but now she's found love
THEY'RE MY KIDS!
This West Coast woman treats her monkeys as iftheyre humans and animal activists are not happy about it