BU Mthembu Says Playing Vuyani on Adulting Made Him Retreat Into His Shell
- Luthando 'BU' Mthembu opened up about how his role as Vuyani on Adulting has affected him on a personal level
- The KwaMashu-born actor pushed back against the idea that the show reduced him to a sex symbol
- BU admitted the intense nature of the role has shifted his outlook in ways he did not anticipate
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Source: Instagram
Luthando ‘BU’ Mthembu is not holding back about what it truly costs to play one of South African television's most talked-about characters. The 33-year-old actor, best known for his role as Vuyani on Adulting, has opened up about the personal toll the character has taken on him, revealing that life inside Vuyani's world has pushed him further inward rather than outward.
BU first caught public attention on Big Brother Mzansi in 2022. Though his time in the house was short, it laid the groundwork for a growing entertainment career. Before landing on Adulting, he had already appeared in Ayeye: Stripped and Redemption, and was also actively building a music career.
BU pushes back on the ‘sex symbol’ label
Vuyani is a character who wears his confidence like a second skin, flashy, romantically entangled, and rarely far from drama. But the role also carries softer, more reflective moments that BU believes audiences overlook. Speaking on his podcast, the KwaMashu-born actor addressed the widespread perception that Adulting turned him into a sex symbol because of its storylines.
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According to News 24, he made it clear that the show did not introduce him to sex or sexuality, saying he was already comfortable with those aspects of life long before taking on the role. He also pushed back against the idea that Adulting is simply a show built around such scenes, urging viewers to recognise the craft, storytelling and production that go into every episode. Reducing it to its steamier moments, he argued, does a disservice to everyone involved in bringing the series to life.
How Vuyani changed BU's perspective
Despite drawing a firm line between himself and the character, BU acknowledged that playing Vuyani has quietly shifted how he sees the world. Rather than making him more outgoing or expressive, the experience has had the opposite effect.
‘It became too much,’ he said, explaining that constant exposure to high-intensity situations and storylines can eventually overwhelm a person and affect how they process everyday life. The weight of stepping into Vuyani's shoes, it seems, has encouraged him to pull back and reflect rather than lean into the spotlight the role has given him.
For BU, Adulting remains a significant career milestone, and Vuyani is a role that has brought him far greater visibility than anything before it. But that visibility has come with an unexpected personal reckoning, one that has led him to examine his own boundaries and reassess his relationship with the world around him.
BU ventures into acting
The former Big Brother Mzansi contestant Luthando BU Mthembu recently opened up about his discomfort with filming sex scenes.
The Adulting actor shared that it took him time to get used to filming sex scenes.
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Source: Briefly News
