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MAGICAL MOM
YOU South Africa|30 January 2025
Soapie fans will always remember Michelle Botes as a TV villain, but to her children she was an angel who was an inspiration in her final days
- ELRI BOUCHER
MAGICAL MOM

SHE felt sad as she packed her life into suitcases, loaded them into her car and watched as the city she loved disappeared into the distance.

As Michelle Botes drove away from Joburg in 2022, she knew she'd never return. Having been told she had cancer and that it was incurable the veteran actress had decided to spend what time she had left in Cape Town with her son, Daniel Roberts, and his wife, Noleen.

“It was special to have her with us,” says Daniel (31), who works at a restaurant in the city. “She had her own room, and I slept on the floor next to her bed to spend more time with her.”

On the morning of 21 December, as Michelle drifted in and out of consciousness, they knew the end was near. “

And then she took her last breath and quietly left,” Daniel says hoarsely.

He phoned his sister, Cara (35), who was in London and gently broke the news. “She left us,” he told her.

Tears well up in Cara’s eyes as she recalls her brother’s words. “I was incredibly emotional,” she says.

Viewers got to know Michelle (62) as a soap opera villain: first as the conniving Cherel de Villiers-Haines in Isidingo and then as the sharp-tongued Angelique Price in Legacy. But to Cara and Daniel, she was simply Mom.

For weeks, after news of her death broke, her children chose to remain silent – but they now feel ready to share their memories of the woman who raised them.

THEY will never forget the time their mother retreated to the Knysna forest to find herself again. It was in 2013, shortly after Michelle said goodbye to Cherel and Isidingo, and she ended up loving the Garden Route so much she stayed there for seven years. In those years, both Cara and Daniel spent time with their mother in her forest sanctuary.

This story is from the 30 January 2025 edition of YOU South Africa.

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This story is from the 30 January 2025 edition of YOU South Africa.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

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