Melinda Ferguson is a well-known, award-winning True Love magazine journalist and bestselling author of Smacked: A Harrowing Journey of Addiction and Hooked.

Sarah Setlaelo is a talent agent and Kelly Khumalo’s manager.

The Kelly Khumalo Story

By Melinda Ferguson, Sarah Setlaelo, Tim McDonald

Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd

Copyright © 2012 Melinda Ferguson
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-920601-12-6

Contents

Preface,
Acknowledgements,
Epigraph,
PART 1 Meeting Kelly Khumalo,
Chapter 1 The Call,
Chapter 2 The Meeting,
Chapter 3 Abandoned,
Chapter 4 The Crux Gospel Star Talent Search,
Chapter 5 When Kelly Met Sarah,
Chapter 6 The Final Countdown,
PART 2 The Bonsai and Sarah Years,
Chapter 7 Post Crux,
Chapter 8 Mood Swings,
Chapter 9 Trouble Brews,
Chapter 10 Like a Virgin,
PART 3 Legal Woes – Sarah Takes Action,
Chapter 11 The Poverty of Prosper,
Chapter 12 The Court Case: Sarah vs Kelly,
Chapter 13 Elation,
Chapter 14 Fallout,
Chapter 15 The Undoing of Prosperity,
PART 4 Young, Black and Wasted,
Chapter 16 The Deception of Love,
Chapter 17 Mama Jackie Mary Poppins,
Chapter 18 Young, Black and Wasted,
Chapter 19 Exit Plan,
Chapter 20 Court,
Chapter 21 Stand by your Man,
Chapter 22 Colonised by Cocaine,
Chapter 23 The Beginning of the End,
Chapter 24 Leaving,
Chapter 25 Sarah,
PART 5 Recovery,
Chapter 26 Cover Stories,
Chapter 27 The Weave Wars,
Chapter 28 Meeting beyond the Material,
Chapter 29 True Love,
Chapter 30 The Scar of my Whiteness,
Chapter 31 Time,
Chapter 32 Kitchen Tears,
Chapter 33 The Voice,
Chapter 34 Rolling with Kelly,
Afterword,
Appendix,

CHAPTER 1

The Call

NOVEMBER 2011

Do you really think people care about girls like Kelly? No one remembers one thing Kelly did on the music front. With her, it’s all been about scandal and chaos and drama.

– Melinda Ferguson, Features Editor, True Love magazine

‘Why the hell would I want to write a story about Kelly Khumalo?’ my voice barked at a woman’s voice belonging to an unknown number.

It was 3 pm, November 2011. The phones in the office had been ringing off the hook all day. End-of-year madness was mounting. Magazines are a bombsite during the weeks leading to Christmas deadlines. True Love mag was no different. Before we could wrap up for the year, we needed to finish the February 2012 issue, send it to the printers and have the March 2012 issue planned and ready to go when we got back, new year, in January. No matter how hard one tries it is always chaos.

When that unknown number hit my screen, disturbing my hard-to-manage train of thoughts on ‘How to Rock your Man’s Boat on Valentine’s’ I all but threw the offending BlackBerry against the back wall. But over the years, since cleaning up and getting sober, I have learnt a few invaluable skills in stress management, so I managed to delay my instinctive psycho response. Yet that didn’t mean I wasn’t irritated at the intrusion. I hate picking up a call from a number I didn’t know. Probably stems from times in my life when the people who were calling weren’t ringing to say, ‘Hi, how are you?’ but rather ‘You owe me’.

‘I have a story you might be interested in.’ The voice on the other end of the line had begun the conversation. It was nervous.

‘My name is Sarah. My client – a very famous singer – she’s just come out of a bad relationship – she wants to talk about her drug addiction. She’d like to do an exclusive with True Love, with you. We both respect you because of what you’ve been through. I’ve read Smacked, many times – it’s a brilliant book – so that