Asperger's is not treated with medicine. It is not a mental illness. it is when part of the brain doesn't work.

South Africa had sanctions by the rest of the world, and we pretty much had a banned press and our government was a Christian one.

I was five years old socially - had never been taught anything, never explained anything. When I went to people about my mother, their attitude was that I had to respect her because she was my mother.

At 42, a client said to me, "Tessa, you are always talking about your mother. You should stop talking to her. Get rid of her." It was the first time someone gave me permission to do that.

so I did.

The upshoot was that my sister came to see me with her husband - even though I said I didn't want them to drive up. She was insistant because, she said, they now mixed with the mink and manure set, and they wanted to show me their new BMW 5 series.

I was in a terrible state. When she saw me, she proceeded to tell me I would burn in hell for what I was doing to mummy...

This was after my mother had spent the last several years phoning me at 5 ever morning and spending two hours calling me a slut and a hore and stupid and I can't remember what else.