Before she was a public speaker, author and documentary filmmaker, Rachel Kolisi was making beds at a Cape Town bed and breakfast and hoping nobody would recognise her. The revelation came during a candid radio interview this week as she promotes her book and documentary, both titled Falling Forward — a project that charts her journey through one of the most publicly scrutinised divorces in South African sport.
The interview, which has since gone viral on TikTok, offered an unusually unguarded look at the woman behind years of carefully curated public appearances alongside Springbok captain Siya Kolisi.
The job she could find
Rachel explained that after leaving her career to care for her son Nicholas, who was born with underdeveloped lungs and could not attend a crèche, she found herself desperate to regain some financial independence once he started school. The options, it turned out, were limited.
She applied for receptionist roles and anything else she could find before landing a position at a local BnB. “I was making beds, making breakfast, dealing with very interesting…” she told radio host Anele Mdoda, her sentence trailing off in a way that suggested the guests were an adventure of their own.
The BnB stint was short-lived. After her employer refused her time off — with Siya away on tour for extended periods — she made what she described as one of the most difficult decisions of her life: quitting her job entirely to manage the household and care for Nicholas, as well as Siya’s two younger siblings, Liyema and Liphelo, whom the couple had taken in after their mother’s death.
“It was one of the most horrific decisions for me,” she said. “Because that meant when I needed pads, tampons, shampoo, I had to ask permission for money to be deposited.”
Moving forward, not moving on
The interview also touched on the divorce itself, announced in October 2024 after eight years of marriage. Rachel has two biological children with Siya — Nicholas, now 11, and Keziah, 9 — and helped raise his siblings throughout their marriage.
She pushed back firmly against the social media consensus that moving on requires a new relationship. “I find it so interesting that that’s what’s considered moving on,” she said. “I’m good by myself. I don’t think I’ve ever been better by myself.”
She also confirmed she has no intention of reverting to her maiden name, Smith. As she explained it, the decision is largely practical — travelling internationally with her children, who share her surname, already raises enough questions. “The number of times I’ve been asked if those are my kids,” she said. “Yes, they are my kids.”
On the question of Siya’s rumoured new relationship with a Dutch influencer a decade his junior, Rachel was measured. Her priority, she said, is her children. Everything else, in her words, is none of her business.
A sign, a song and a ceremony
She also revealed new details about the moment she knew the marriage was over. Attending a rugby match in Durban, a song came on that she described as feeling like a sign from God — a quiet, private reckoning that reduced her to tears. That same day, she and Siya broke the news of their separation to their children.
Later, at a wellness retreat in the United States, she participated in a symbolic “funeral” for the marriage — writing a letter, reading it aloud and watching it burn. “I’m standing reading the letter at this funeral, and I’m sobbing, crying,” she recalled.
Falling Forward, both the book and documentary, form the centrepiece of her current nationwide roadshow. Later this month, she is also set to speak at the Forbes Women Summit at the Sandton Convention Centre in her capacity as a women’s rights advocate and social impact leader.
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Featured Image: Instagram | rachelkolisi
