Carishma Basday is done with shrinking herself to fit in – to clothing, boxes and societal expectations. The actress, TV presenter, medicine woman and mom is embracing her unique complexity and encouraging other women to do the same.
Words: Wanita Nicol
Hair and Make-Up: Carina Pereira
Photography: Tegan Smith
Location: Botany House
Styling and Wardrobe: Candice-Lee Kannemeyer
Carishma Basday looks disappointed. She’s ordered a toasted chicken mayo and asked for spicy sauce—Tabasco was all the deli had. “Tabasco isn’t a spicy sauce,” she says, adding enough to make many people cry.
Her hair cascades in thick, glossy curls over one shoulder. Paired with a printed maxi dress and stacked gold jewellery, she exudes Bollywood glam despite her petite frame. “I used to hate my curls,” she admits, recalling how, growing up in Port Shepstone, she longed for straight hair like other Indian women and had few haircare options.
Another consequence of living in a small town: it didn’t ever occur to Carishma that a career in television could be attainable, despite her fondness for speech, drama, and dance from a young age. “For me, it was like the people on the TV lived in the TV,” she jokes.
Instead, animal-loving Carishma planned to be a vet, even volunteering at the local vet during school holidays from the age of nine. But those aspirations ended after she witnessed an elderly couple having to put their beloved golden retriever down. “I knew that putting animals down was part of the job, but something about that particular experience just broke me,” she recalls.
Stepping into the spotlight
It was a high school teacher who encouraged Carishma to pursue acting. “She just saw something in me and really believed in me.” As soon as she discovered that acting was a viable career path, Carishma was determined to follow it, even when that meant relocating to Cape Town – where she knew no one – in her early 20s.
Despite the tough move, Carishma landed the role of Zulfa in Material (2012) with Riaad Moosa. A successful career followed, including presenting on SABC3’s Mela and Afternoon Express, and a spot among FHM’s 20 sexiest women. “I loved being seen as a little sex kitten,” she says. “I wanted to show Indian women we don’t have to hide.”
Looking back, however, she realises that what she thought was a healthy regimen of hardcore workouts and eating very little wasn’t sustainable, especially after becoming a mom.
Renaissance woman
Carishma and her husband (French helicopter pilot Gael Le Martin) welcomed their daughter Ayla in 2020. “It was a big wake-up call,” she says. “I realised: I’m breastfeeding, so I can’t go back to my usual lifestyle of starving myself and working out like a maniac.”
She later saw it as a reinvention, but at the time, it was frightening. “Ayla was three weeks old when I broke down,” she recalls. “I told my husband, I don’t know how to handle this body or weight loss while breastfeeding.” She feared for her career and public opinion about her postpartum body. More importantly, she worried about her daughter. “I never want Ayla to treat her body as I did mine. I knew I had to do better for myself and for her.”
Today, Carishma lives a slower life. She prioritises rest, nourishing her body, and gentle movement. She lives close to nature, and she has learnt to say “no” more often.
Now, as she enters the last year of her thirties, Carishma gives us a behind-the-scenes glimpse.
What was it like having a baby during lockdown?
It was actually the best time because we had no outside interruption. Thank goodness, we had already planned a home birth. And I got Gael for nine months, which was fantastic because he usually travelled for work for weeks at a time. We really bonded as a family unit.
You both have demanding careers. How does that work now that you’re parents?
We have an amazing nanny. But I think both my husband and I are also very conscious of letting Ayla be. Many people say kids have to fit into your life, but I don’t think that’s true. They didn’t ask to be here. You know, you wanted to bring a
child into this world. Sure, there’s a balance, and sure, there are boundaries and rules. I’m still a mom, not her best friend.
But at the end of the day, we take our cues from her.
You have quite an alternative approach to medicine and wellness. How did that come about?
I had just come off a play with Nicola Hanekom – the renowned writer/director, and my body was broken. I was getting patches of pigmentation. And something just didn’t feel right. Another actress was like, “ You should go to this woman, Kheryne, for body work. I thought I was just going for my pain. But she started planting little seeds about quite alternative stuff. That, combined
with meeting Gael, whose parents had been doing organic and alternative for 60 years, just seemed aligned for me.
Kheryne helped me, over a year, to reverse my PCOS naturally, and it’s never come back. That started me on the journey. I started exploring plants and herbs, and I studied herbalism. Allopathic medicine is there for a reason, and sometimes we definitely need it, but we have a medicinal garden that’s our go-to, and I love that Ayla is growing up with that.
Herbal Remedies
Carishma shares some of her herbalist knowledge.
THYME AND GARLIC TEA: An antimicrobial drink for when you’re coming down with a cold.
YARROW LEAVES: Applied as a poultice, they help seal wounds and promote healing.
ONION AND HONEY: Dice up the onion, cover it with honey and leave it to sit overnight to make a cough syrup.
How did you become a medicine woman?
When I became pregnant, things began to activate in me. I felt more energetically connected to the earth and the universe. I stopped breastfeeding when my daughter was three, in May. That December, lying in bed at my parents’, I got a vivid call from the universe. It was like, this is it, Carishma. It’s time. There’s no more saying no to this. So I said yes. I went on an eight-month journey with eight women. It was a dark night of the soul for me, very hard. But at the end, I was initiated into the path of a medicine woman. Since then, I’ve completed many more initiations, going deeper, and it feels like coming home.
How do you reconcile all these different parts of yourself?
When I was younger, I felt I had to be someone else to get roles, love, appreciation, and visibility. Now, I show up as I am; sometimes glammed up, other times bare-faced, swimming in a mountain stream. I love the duality within me, and as I get older, I feel less afraid to be myself. I’m a better actress and presenter than ever. I’m bringing all this magic to the table.
In The Spotlight
Carishma’s career has had many highlights – Material among them – but the role that honed her craft as an actress was a trilogy of site-specific plays by South African writer/director Nicola Hanekom. Her eyes light up as she reminisces about turning blue after floating in a swimming pool at night in water that was so cold, “it felt like knives cutting my skin,” and getting bruises from dragging chains that weighed almost as much as she did. “It was amazing,” she says, grinning widely. “I was proud of those bruises! It really felt like I was suffering for my art. I loved it!”
