The battle of the divas

Khanyi Mbau blew into our households and consciousness as Doobsie in the SABC2 soapie Muvhango. But it was when she called the director and creator of the show, Duma ka Ndlovu, a despicable person for trying to curtail her social climbing as tabloid fodder that we sat up and took notice

How they rose to fame

Kelly Khumalo was the cute girl with a sweet voice in a gospel talent show who claimed the spotlight through a radical image change going from wholesome to skimpily dressed vixen in the blink of an eye while making headlines for being a virgin

Their love lives

Mbau hit the jackpot when she hooked up with millionaire Mandla Mthembu, who was more than 30 years her senior. He gave her a luxurious life in a Melrose Arch penthouse, with a Porsche and Lamborghini at her disposal, and a seemingly limitless credit card. She in turn gave him a daughter, Khanu, and limited fame. When the money ran out, so did Mbau, who embraced her new moniker of gold-digger Then she hooked rich married oldie Theunis . Crous, earning the new moniker of home wrecker Mbau . is now with musician Tebogo Lerole Khumalo fast-tracked her road to fame with a contrived marriage proposal from struggling actor, Nathi Ndlovu, on the TV show All You Need Is Love. It turned out to be a publicity stunt cooked up by her management company. After an acrimonious split with the company, Khumalo started her own company with then lover, controversial music promoter Prosper Mkwaiwa. After the relationship bombed, Khumalo turned up pregnant with secret boyfriend Molemo Jub Jub Maarohanyes child

Their big photo scandals

Last year, in the throes of yet another break-up with the married Crous, naked pictures of Mbau surfaced on a local porn site. The overtly sexual and graphic pictures were soon followed by a second set, and an outraged Mbau claimed they were the work of Crous and his wife Khumalos career as tabloid fodder was cemented when she was papped at a show in a beaded skimpy skirt, dancing with her legs in the air and showing her lady bits. The picture went viral on the internet and Khumalo lost her hot virgin credibility

Other endeavours
Mbau was fired from a local drama for going AWOL during a shoot. After that, her sugar daddies financed her two music projects, which bombed spectacularly. No one knows how she makes money to maintain her lady of leisure lifestyle Khumalos voice has put her in a league of her own, but shes also dabbled in acting, playing a version of herself in the e.tv soapie Rhythm City

Their infamous famous feud

Mbau was quoted as saying I have changed five cars and she still drives her Toyota. Im on the database of Louis Vuitton and she has never been inside the store. She is nowhere near where I am today. I have lived at addresses she can only dream of. Khumalo fired her own missives, allegedly calling Mbau a cheapskate for her fake bling lifestyle. The two eventually made up over a cheap takeaway meal, a disappointingly un-diva like anticlimax

Their biographies
Mbaus biography, written by City Presss Lesley Mofokeng, is due out on this month Khumalos biography, written by author Melinda Ferguson, is set to hit the shelves in October 2012

THEUNS KRUGER, Graphics24