Bianca Naidoo recently opened up about the mental health struggles faced by her late partner Riky Rick. Rikhado “Riky Rick” Makhado tragically took his own life on February 23, 2022, at the age of 34.
External Factors
In a recent interview on Metro FM, Bianca shared her belief that external factors may have contributed to Riky’s decision to take his own life. Despite the constant support provided by Bianca and their family, even through his battle with drug addiction, Riky may have felt like he wasn’t doing enough.
“He wanted to do more than he was actually doing, he wanted to make a difference. When I look at it now, I feel like he probably didn’t feel like he was doing enough and that was definitely something that hurt … just with a lot of the things that have been happening in the country and in the industry. Those are the things that didn’t sit well with him. It’s just a whole lot of worldly things that he struggled with,” said Bianca.
Struggle with Addiction
Bianca also spoke about Riky’s struggle with addiction. “Riky did struggle with addiction and had a very good run and then, unfortunately, struggled again towards the end. That was hard for him to feel like he’s kind of failed, but I have to say we held him close through all those moments. We gave him so much love, even though he felt that he wasn’t worthy of it probably,” she said.
A Mother’s Journey
Riky’s mother Louisa Zondo was also present during the interview. She spoke about how writing her book Dearest MaRiky — A Mother’s Journey through Grief, Trauma and Healing helped her grieve and heal. In the book, Louisa pens a series of letters to her late son.
In a previous interview with news reporters, Louisa reflected on the pain she felt after losing her son. “The death of my son changed a lot of what I knew to be life. It unravelled me and left me feeling very lost, disconnected, and in unbearable pain. The love generously given by family, friends, Rikhado’s fans, many people who had experienced loss and my spiritual community helped me tremendously,” she said.
Louisa also spoke about how engaging with memories of her son helped her heal. “Even though for a long time I felt extreme longing and pain when engaging with memories of my son — images of him, a sense of his presence in various spaces, his music and material on the internet — engaging with the memory of my son was the very thing I was drawn to,” she said.