Black Actresses Speak Out About Colourism
Pretty For a Dark-Skinned Girl
Keke Palmer
“When I was like 5 years old I used to pray to have light skin because I would always hear how pretty that little light skin girl was, or I would hear I was 'too pretty to be dark-skinned,’” Palmer revealed. “It wasn’t until I was 13 that I really learned to appreciate my skin colour and know that I was beautiful.” The actress went on to say that African Americans need “to stop separating ourselves by how dark or how light we are.”
Praying For Light Skin
Lupita Nyong’o
Lupita Nyong’o’s prayers as a youth. The Oscar winner revealed in early 2014 that she, too, begged God for lighter skin. Teased and bullied for her dark skin, Nyong’o desperately believed that God would answer her prayer.
“The morning would come and I would be so excited about seeing my new skin that I would refuse to look down at myself until I was in front of a mirror because I wanted to see my fair face first,” she said. “And every day I experienced the same disappointment of being just as dark as I was the day before.”
Colourism Still Affects Gabrielle Union
“When I got to go to basketball camp and I got to be around black boys, I was like cool…until I got dumped…for a light-skinned girl,” she said. “And then that whole thing started. My hair isn’t straight enough. My nose isn’t pointy enough. My lips are too big. My boobs aren’t big enough. And you start going through all of that. And I realise as I’ve gotten older a lot of issues that I was dealing with at 15, I am still dealing with today.”
Meagan Good's experience of misinformed beauticians
American actress Meagan Good also spoke out about skin bleaching, after being accused of bleaching her skin for many years. She responded to a comment left under her photo describing her experience with an inexperienced beautician who conducted a facial that had harmful chemicals in it - the same chemicals that are used in skin bleaching creams.
