Amid her high-profile divorce from Siya Kolisi, Rachel Kolisi has enjoyed “a weekend for the soul”, during a holiday with her children and her ex-husband’s younger sibling Liphelo.
The beloved South African couple, who were together for more than a decade and have two children, Nicholas Siyamthanda and Keziah, together while also adopting Siya’s younger siblings, Liyema and Liphelo, after their mother died in 2009, announced their split last month.
In a joint statement posted to social media, the two-time Rugby World Cup-winning Springboks captain and the media personality stated that the decision comes after “much reflection and open conversations” as well as “from a place of love, respect and understanding that this is the best path forward for both of us.”
Siya turned his Instagram comments off last week while posting a picture of him jetting off to the UK with teammate Eben Etzebeth and also wishing Cheslin Kolbe a happy birthday.
He has since turned his comments back on as he posted images of his rugby match over the weekend.
Meanwhile, Rachel only broke her silence regarding divorce over the weekend.
On Saturday, November 2, she wrote on Instagram: “This is so hard. I have genuinely been overwhelmed by kindness and love and I’m so grateful. Fully committed to my healing journey. Peace is my portion ❤️.”
On Sunday, November 3, she added another post of images of her and her children and as well as Liphelo enjoying some time away at the Perivoli Lagoon House in Stanford in the Western Cape.
She captioned her post: “A weekend for the soul ❤️ I have a busy week ahead, so this was very needed. Thank you for having us @perivolilagoonhouse.”
She also added an image of Liphelo, 17, driving and added to her post: “PS we have a new driver in the house @mercedesbenzsa 😎.”
It is unclear if Liyema was also part of the trip.
But later that night, Rachel posted a speaker’s brief document on her Instagram Stories, adding: “Last prep before a big week @earthshotprize.
As a co-founder of The Kolisi Foundation with Siya as well as advocating for women's empowerment and social justice, Rachel is expected to join global leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs and youngsters from around the world who will gather in Cape Town this week for the prestigious gathering which forms part of Earthshot Week.
Founded in 2020 by Prince William, the event is a global environmental prize and platform designed to discover, accelerate and scale ground-breaking solutions to repair and regenerate the planet.
Nomzamo Mbatha will host Earthshot Week’s series of events focused on accelerating environmental solutions while Bonang Matheba will host the fourth-annual Earthshot Prize Awards with Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award winner Billy Porter.
It will be broadcast in 50 markets across the African continent with the support of Global Alliance Partner MultiChoice and be available live globally through a special partnership with YouTube.
Supermodel and television host Heidi Klum, actor and activist Nina Dobrev, multi-hyphenate artist and actor Tobe Nwigwe, and supermodel and beauty entrepreneur Winnie Harlow will join the broadcast to announce the five Prize Winners from each Earthshot category.
Meanwhile, renowned media personality Somizi Mhlongo has offered some advice to Rachel during her divorce.
In an Instagram Reel, he recently expressed his shock and sadness over the couple’s separation, adding that it would be hard for her to go by any other name.
Her surname was Smith before she married Siya in 2016.
“I can’t imagine Rachel with [another surname]. It’s Rachel Kolisi. That’s all I know.”
“Rachel, if you’re thinking of going back to your surname, please do it privately, for the sake of my heart and the nation’s heart. “You are our makoti.”
Meanwhile, Sonia Booth, who also went through a highly-publicised divorce from former footballer Matthew Booth also weighed in on the matter.
In an interview with “Timeslive”, she reflected on her own experience as a spouse to a sports star as she hinted that sportsmen were flooded with attention from female fans.
“The uncultured, unpasteurised groupies have zero sense of personal space and zero regard for your feelings and existence. However, the onus lies on the player to address this.
“Some won’t, because the attention boosts their egos and inflates their heads.”
“Boys will be boys, and they drag each other off to strip clubs, and all the groupies follow.”
The businesswoman and former TV star's marriage was cast into the spotlight in November 2022 after it emerged that he was having an affair with Bongani Mthombeni.
She took to her social media accounts at the time to expose his infidelity
It also emerged that Matthew had baked a cheesecake the previous night but in the morning it was gone.
Sonia believed that he baked it for his mistress and she said that she left the cake carrier on the garage floor where he parked to show him she knew about the alleged infidelity.