Nicole Nyaba Opens Up About AKA Relationship: “I Was Never a Side-Chick”

• Nicole Nyaba broke her silence on her relationship with the late rapper AKA, revealing details that challenged public perception
• She described the moment AKA told her he had moved on to someone else, and what he said when she later visited him at his home
• Nicole also spoke candidly about her emotional state when she first heard the news of the Congratulate rapper's murder in 2023

During the latest episode of the Engineer Your Life podcast on 21 July 2026, model and actress Nicole Nyaba has opened up about her past romance with the late rapper Kiernan "AKA" Forbes, setting the record straight on one of South Africa's most talked-about celebrity relationships.

Nicole Nyaba debunks side-chick claims

Contrary to what many fans assumed over the years, Nicole insisted she was never a side piece to the Fela in Versace hitmaker. As far as she was aware at the time, she was his one and only girlfriend in 2017.

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When their relationship eventually came to an end, it was not a case of being left in the dark. Nicole recalled that AKA sat her down and told her directly that he had started seeing someone else, explaining it was what he needed to do "as a man"; something she admitted she struggled to process back then.

In 2018, while she was still working through the heartbreak, Nicole and a friend paid AKA a visit at his home on his birthday. It was during that visit that he told her he had loved her the best way he knew how and appeared genuinely uncertain about why things between them had fallen apart.

After his relationship with the former slay queen ended, the rapper rekindled his romance with the mother of his child, DJ Zinhle.

He would go on to be in more high-profile relationships, including his romance with Nadia Nakai as well as his engagement to Anele Tembe that sadly ended in tragedy.

Moving on from resentment

Nicole did not pretend the fallout was easy. She admitted there was a time she could not stand him or his music at all.

"There was a moment where I was full of anger, and I couldn't stand him or his music, for years."

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But with time came perspective. She explained that as she matured, she made a conscious choice to let go of the bitterness and hold onto the better memories instead.

"Nowadays, when I think of him, I'm reminded of how caring and loving he was. I think about the good things we did together and the things we had in common."

What stung her most about the relationship, she revealed, was not simply that it fell apart despite everything she put into it, but that she was hurt during one of the most vulnerable periods of her life. She had been grieving the loss of her mother at the time, and what made the pain sharper was the expectation that her partner would protect rather than wound her.

When news broke in February 2023 that AKA had been shot and killed outside a Durban restaurant, Nicole described a conflicted emotional response.

"I didn't want to hear it; it was too much for me to deal with at the time. I was in another relationship, and there was a lot happening in that relationship, so when I read about it, I was like, 'I'm still mad at this guy, but at the same time, I don't wanna hear it, please don't tell me what's going on in his life.'"

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Watch Nicole Nyaba's interview below.

Nicole Nyaba reportedly joins Shembe Church

In an earlier report, Briefly News shared online reactions to Nicole Nyaba leaving her baddie days behind and finding fulfilment in the church.

Social media had a field day as they discussed the former slay queen's pivot, with some debating her intentions.

Source: Briefly News