American rapper and singer Doja Cat has recently spoken candidly about the lack of her relationship with her South African father.
Doja, real name Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini, gained a lot of popularity ever since she started pushing her music career by uploading videos and songs onto social platforms such as SoundCloud and TikTok.
In turn, this has turned her into a household name on the international music scene through the release of top hits such as Mooo!, Juicy and Say So.
However, while she grew up in Los Angeles, many of her followers were shocked to discover that the pop star is in fact of South African descent.
The 28-year-old is the daughter of South African Sarafina! actor, Dumisani Dlamini. Despite the fact both father and daughter are extremely popular, the singer recently shared that they have never met.
In an interview with American radio personality Ebro Darden, Doja was asked about her South African heritage and whether she would perform in the country as it would mean a lot to the locals to celebrate her. To this, she responded saying that she has never even been to South Africa before.
“I rely on my career to throw me out to places. I don’t have pockets of time to travel ‘cause I don’t like flying, especially long flights like that. I know it means a lot and would mean a lot.”
Talking about her dad, she re-iterated the comments made in an interview her father’s Sarafina! co-actor Whoopi Goldberg, saying that she never met him.
“I’ve never met my dad. He’s so good at dancing, he’s a goated dancer. There is a video my mom showed me where he performed on Broadway. He has so much ability and incredible talent when it comes to dance.”
Meanwhile in 2020, Dumsani dismissed these claims. In an interview with Metro FM, he said that after living in the US for 15 years, he felt homesick and returned home, but says that he always had the plan of bringing his family over, when the time was right. While this has not come to fruition, he claimed to have always reached out to his daughter.
