Felistas Edwards has a lot going for her. In 2018, the well-known Zimbabwean comedian, gospel artist, entrepreneur and MC received the Top Female Entertainment and Social Media Enterprise Business Leader of the Year Award from the Women’s Heritage Society World Organisation.
While she has enjoyed success in her professional life, the bubbly character, who resides with her two children in Harare, Zimbabwe, went through a very difficult period in her life.
Felistas recently opened up to The Weight She Carries about her relationship with her former husband, and described her marriage to him as initially loving until certain issues came up.
To begin with, she had a mother-in-law who was controlling and abusive, Felistas said, and was not fond of her music career. Felistas’ husband tended to side with his mother.
“Everyone was afraid of her,” Felistas said. “She would always remind me that she had given birth to her son and taken care of him alone as a single mother. I had to just learn to ignore it and accept that I couldn’t change her.”
Felistas said her husband also began cheating on her, blaming his behaviour on evil spirits. Eventually, his constant infidelity led to a devastating diagnosed.
“My husband infected me with HIV/AIDS. It was hard for me, especially those first days. I continuously asked myself what it is that he had not gotten from me as I had given him everything. He was very remorseful and apologized a lot. Unfortunately no one can cry over spilt milk; it was already done. After finding out my status, we never lived together in peace. We would fight a lot and all trust was gone, which led to the divorce.”
Felistas Edwards
Pain and traumatic experiences can lead many women to lose themselves and feel their lives have ended, but for Felistas it has been the opposite.
The pain and betrayal she suffered turned her into a much stronger person. They aided her in discovering herself and living her life to the fullest, focusing only on the positive.
“Pain has made me not to care a lot [about] negative issues. My successes have made me stronger. I work hard for my children and [me]. I have affirmed that I will not associate with negative people or anything that will trigger a negative mood or vibe in my life,” she said.
“It is now that I realize that he was the handbrake in my life. After we divorced, a lot started to take shape in my life. My career took a good turn. I do not think I would have achieved much with him.”
– Felistas Edwards
Felistas advices other women not to allow life’s challenges to defeat them.
“Get up, work, empower yourself,” she said. “Betrayal or divorce is not the end of the world. One might not be able to forget [the pain] completely, but you will learn to live with it and embrace it.”
