Actor Natasha Thahane has announced her split from Sundowns player Thembinkosi Lorch. 

The couple never formally announced the start of their relationship, but their followers assumed they were together after taking photos in similar locations during a tropical vacation back in 2021.

Lorch denied being with Thahane during an Instagram livestream with award-winning DJ Maphorisa, but the pair went on to have a child together the following year.

Thahane continued to keep her relationship with the football player under wraps, only to announce their split in a surprise post on Monday.

“A brief update: Thembinkosi Lorch and I have mutually decided to part ways romantically. Despite the change in our relationship, we will remain friends and co-parents,” she said, adding that she was looking forward to this new chapter in her life.

Though she insisted the decision to break up was mutual and amicable, a video posted to her Instagram stories after she shared the statement has fans thinking Lorch was to blame for the split.

“That’s all I kept thinking the whole time. When is it going to stop? When is it going to stop?” says Rihanna in the brief clip shared by Thahane.

The clip is from a 2009 interview detailing the vicious attack by her ex-boyfriend, Chris Brown.

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A post shared by Natasha Thahane (@natasha_thahane)

“You start thinking, ‘What could I possibly have said to make him hit me and do this?’ I didn’t want people looking at me and feeling sorry for me, like, ‘There goes the victim,’” Rihanna told American broadcast outlet ABC.

Thahane’s choice also grabbed people’s attention because Lorch received a suspended sentence during proceedings in the assault case against him last September.

The suspended sentence came after the footballer was found guilty of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm to his former girlfriend, Fundiswa Mathithibala.

He was sentenced to three years imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years, on condition he is not found guilty of a similar offence during the same period.

Lorch also received a R100 000 fine with proceeds earmarked for the organisation People Opposing Women Abuse (Powa).

He was also removed from all club activity for two months by his previous employer, Orlando Pirates.