Somizi Mhlongo celebrates 53rd birthday: balancing success, personal challenges and grief

South African seasoned radio host and media personality Somizi Mhlongo marked his 53rd birthday with candid reflections on how 2025 has been for him.

He shared a list of the positives and negatives that he experienced since the year began in a video on Instagram on Tuesday, December 23.

Mhlongo shared: “Let’s start with the positives: I’m grateful for health, I’m grateful for my wealth.”

He added that he has been in the entertainment industry for over 40 years since he started his career at a young age, and he is still recognised and celebrated for his work, which he is also grateful for.

“I’m still standing, and I’m still relevant, booked and busy like a DJ,” he said.

The fashion designer also reflected on some of his big achievements this year, including graduating from a fashion school, his clothing brand's growth and hosting his first-ever fashion show.

Even though this seemed like a year full of achievements for the media personality, he shared that there were negatives that he faced as well.

He shared: “This year, my biggest negative that I realised was that I was not operating from a place of gratitude.

“I’m overthinking. I was having those episodes of depression. If you know or you don’t, in 2021, I was diagnosed with clinical depression.”

Mhlongo added that he thought he had his clinical depression under control and was dealing with it the best way possible, but he wasn’t because he went through a lot of episodes, whereby he felt sad and just wanted to be alone most of the time.

He further added that he disappointed his friend and his daughter, who wanted to surprise him for his 53rd birthday, telling them, “he wants to refill his cup alone, especially on his birthday.”

Grief is not linear, and there are moments when it sneaks up on you. This is the same case for Mhlongo, who shared that another reason why he wanted to be alone on his birthday is that he is still struggling to come to terms with the loss of family members.

“One of the reasons why I also wanted to be alone is that I think I haven't dealt with the loss of family members. Ever since the passing of my mother, I’ve never enjoyed my birthday and my Christmas,” he said.

The 53-year-old continued to share that the passing of his siblings is something that he has never dealt with, which he is prioritising next year and plans to go to therapy for it.