It’s been seven months since South African rapper and celebrity, Riky Rick, passed away and his partner Bianca Naidoo has opened up on how she and their kids have coped living without him and how she has used the memories to help deal with her loss.
In an exclusive interview with nounouche online, Bianca talks about how she has had to deal with the loss of her husband along with so many of his adoring fans.
‘It’s indescribable. There are no words that could really express how this feels. When people ask how I’m doing, I don’t always know how to answer them,’ she says.
It’s one thing to lose someone you love but having to lose that person publicly, makes the grieving process that much harder.
‘Life carries on, I know. It happens and you have to keep moving because there is no other way. You have to keep moving for your kids, the people around you and most importantly to not allow all his work to wither away – to make sure we keep those things alive,’ she says.
Ricky Rick, 34, died on February 23.
He committed suicide as a result of a mental health battle.
He left behing his mother, his five siblings, his life partner, and their two children, his family said in a statement.
Bianca told one of her first interviews that she planned to continue carrying out Rick’s vision.
‘He selflessly dedicated a lot of his time, his energy, and his focus to helping develop and mentor youth.
‘It was hugely important for him to find ways to help them elevate themselves and to grow,’ the report quoted her as saying.
Bianca also shared that the passion for empowering youth was something they had in common.
‘I will continue to work towards realising this vision,’ she said.
According to reports, Naidoo recently took the High Court and Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi to court, as she fought to be recognised as the late artist’s wife and executor of his estate.
According to media reports, Bianca claimed in court papers that at the time of his death, she and the artist were ‘partners in a permanent opposite-sex life partnership, with the same or similar characteristics as a marriage after hitting it off on 26 May 2013’.
‘At the time of my acceptance of a relationship with the deceased I lived with my first daughter, who was born out of a previous failed marriage. I expressed to the deceased that unless he was committed to him and myself having a stable relationship with a future, I would not permit him to meet my daughter. The deceased expressed that he wanted a long-lasting future with me, and we began living together with my daughter as a family during the same year of 2013 at my residential property bought for me by my parents in Bryanston, Gauteng,’ read the report.
Compiled by Matthew Petersen
