Few reality television personalities have remained as magnetic to South African audiences as Ash-ley Ogle. Since first appearing on Big Brother Mzansi, she has cultivated a loyal audience drawn to her honesty, confidence and unwavering sense of self, both online and off.

This Mother’s Day, Batswadi meets Ash-ley in a more intimate and reflective moment of her life as she steps into motherhood with the same candour and self-assurance that first introduced her to South Africans, only now, with baby Kenzo beside her.

 

In partnership with Be Beautiful Hair, the cover presents Ash-ley in a way that feels both powerful and deeply personal. Regal yet soft. Grounded yet aspirational. It is a fitting feature for one of the country’s most talked about young women, whose journey continues to unfold publicly while she remains firmly in control of her own narrative.

There’s something deeply transformative about a woman’s first Mother’s Day. It almost feels like the closing of one chapter and the quiet beginning of another. As you sit in this moment with baby Kenzo, how are you feeling?

 

Being a big believer of God means that no chapter is closed. It’s just adding another chapter to my life. And He just adds to the greatness that’s put onto it. With Him, there’s no mistake. It just feels normal, like everyday life. And it’s a blessing from God, an extra blessing.

⁠

The world first encountered you through the intensity and visibility of reality television, but motherhood introduces a very different kind of vulnerability, one that is intimate, grounding and deeply human. How has becoming a mother reshaped your relationship with visibility and fame?

Becoming a mother has not changed me at all. Most people say that becoming a mother changes them, makes them more humble, more soft, more caring. For me, I think I’m still the same person. Well, I don’t think, I know I’m still the same person. It’s just with an extra Gucci bag on the side.

Women in the public eye are often expected to perform strength endlessly, even during life’s most tender transitions. Have you allowed yourself softness in this season, and what has softness taught you?

 

I always allow myself softness, not just with being a mother, but I think that God was preparing me before having Kenzo to become a mom because I became a lot softer even before that. But softness has taught me to be more considerate of other people as well as to just be more patient, because you need a lot of patience when you have a baby.

There’s a line between being seen and being truly known. Now that your life holds this deeply personal role of motherhood, how intentional are you about what parts of yourself, and of Kenzo’s world, you choose to share with the public?

I got onto a reality show, and I’ve always loved reality shows and I believe that the reality show that I was on, was 24 hours of me doing everything… non-scripted me. And I’ve always just been authentically non-scripted me, moving in my own pace, in my own race. So, I intend to share probably everything of Kenzo’s that I possibly can, except if it’s really bad. He’s a part of my life now, so I guess if he gets older and he decides he doesn’t want to be in the spotlight, that’s a decision for him to make and I’ll support it. But for now, he’s still my baby, so me and him together, we’ll do things.

This cover captures you almost ceremonially, adorned, regal and maternal. Historically, motherhood has often been framed as sacrifice before beauty. Do you think society is finally beginning to embrace the idea that mothers can exist fully in both power and softness at the same time?

I think you can do anything with motherhood. You can be soft, you can be great, you can exist, you can work… I actually think it’s more empowering because you need to work for someone to look up to you, not just for money or financial things, but to look up to you, to take up space in the world, positive space. And that’s what I have always wanted. I don’t think that I had seen that growing up. So, for myself, I want Kenzo to see that.

⁠Hair has always carried cultural, emotional and even spiritual significance for South African women. Partnering with Be Beautiful Hair during such a defining chapter feels symbolic. Why is this partnership meaningful to you?

I love braids because they’re convenient for me. And especially now that I have a baby, I like having braids in my hair and just tying it up and going. It’s empowering because you always look neat. And the Be Beautiful Hair is light on my head, so I can just sleep and won’t have a headache. I think it’s probably the best choice in my life right now.

 

Motherhood can awaken both healing and reflection. Has becoming a mother changed the way you think about your own upbringing, the women who raised you, or the kind of emotional legacy you hope to leave behind for your son?

I believe that God is the only person that can heal. And I feel like he’s healed me in ways that others really can’t. Our mothers are also here on this earth for the first time, so they’re also learning for the first time. Just like us as children who grew up, we’re also learning how to be children for the first time. But for my hopes as a mother, I would like to just instill God inside of Kenzo, nothing else. And I would like for him to not have the need of healing. God will be his strength and his guidance.

 

So much of modern motherhood is filtered through performance, curated timelines, perfect milestones and beautiful images. Beyond the aesthetics of this chapter, what has the reality of motherhood revealed to you about patience, identity and unconditional love?

First of all, I can say that the love is very unconditional. There’re literally no conditions to the love. It just takes me back once again to saying that God loves everybody. I now understand that with having a child of my own, and my identity, I’m still the same person. Like I said, nothing has changed in that division. And patience, that’s the one thing I’m learning because I’m not a very patient person, but I’m learning.

Years from now, when Kenzo looks back at this cover and this moment in your life, what do you hope he understands about the woman his mother was becoming here, beyond the public figure everyone else sees?

When Kenzo looks back at this one day, I want him to realize that he’s not mine. God just borrowed him to me. So, whatever he does, he shouldn’t look to me for every approval in his life. He should look to God because that’s the one thing I’m instilling in him. And he should love himself for who he is and not who anyone else will make him out to be.