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Home · News

Remembering Nelson Mandela: The Women Who Loved Him

A look back at the women in Nelson Mandela's life.

By Charli Penn and Michael Rowe · December 5, 2013October 27, 2020
01
Right By His Side

Mandela and then-wife Winnie raise their fists to salute the cheering crowd after his release from Victor Verster Prison on February 11, 1990. He was incarcerated for 27 years, all of which she continuously fought for his release.

ALEXANDER JOE/AFP/Getty Images
02
First Love

Evelyn Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s first wife, at her home in Cofimvaba, South Africa in 1994. Together they had four children.

Tom Stoddart/Getty Images
03
The Big Day

Mandela divorced his first wife Evelyn Ntoko Mase in 1957, the same year he met Nomzamo “Winnie” Madikizela. They married on June 14, 1958.

OFF/AFP/Getty Images
04
Love In Paris

Four months after his release from prison, Mandela and his then-wife Winnie attended a ceremony in his honor at Trocadero Square in Paris.

DANIEL JANIN/AFP/Getty Images
05
Walk With Me

Mandela and his then-wife Winnie take a romantic stroll on February 12, 1990 in the garden of Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s residence in Cape Town, one day after Mandela’s release from jail.

WALTER DHLADHLA/AFP/Getty Images
06
Tender Kisses

Mandela and then-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela share a kiss at a rally held in Khayelitsh, Cape Town in March 1990.

Benny Gool/Oryx Media Archive/Gallo Images/Getty Images
07
Proud Grandparents

Mandela and his then-wife Winnie Mandela play with their grandchild, Bambata, at their Soweto home in February 1990. They would separate two years later after Winnie was convicted of kidnapping and being an accessory to assault. Their divorce was finalized in 1993.

WALTER DHALDHLA/AFP/Getty Images
08
Daddy’s Girl

Mandela’s daughter Zinzi in July 1988 wearing Soweto boxing gloves World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Mike Tyson gave to her father as a present for his 70th birthday.

AFP/Getty Images
09
Happy, Happy Birthday

Mandela with daughter Zinzi stay close during his birthday party.

Gallo Images/Avusa
10
We Celebrate You

Mandela receives an 80th birthday kiss from his daughter Zinzi and close friend Naomi Campbell at the Skukuza Game Reserve in the North Province.

WALTER DHLADHLA/AFP/Getty Images
11
New Beginnings

Mandela and his current wife Graca Machel, the widow of the former president of Mozambique, celebrate his 85th birthday. They were married on his 80th birthday.

RAJESH JANTILAL/AFP/Getty Images
12
Smile for the Cameras

Mandela and wife Graca Machel pose ahead of a 46664 concert held in his honor at London’s Hyde Park in 2008.

Dave M. Benett/Getty Images

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