Light Girls, the highly anticipated follow-up to the documentary Dark Girls, which dealt with colorism in the black community and entertainment, is set to make its debut on OWN this weekend. In the documentary Raven-Symoné gets real and honest about her complexion and explains that she used to tan excessively to darken her skin.
In the doc, Raven explains that her love of tanning came about during her four-year run as the star of Disney’s “That’s So Raven.”
“When I had my own show, I used to tan three or four times a week in a tanning bed to get darker,” she said. “I did.”
Raven explains that her tanning got so intense that her skin tone was seen as a problem by the production staff.
“It’s funny, one of the lighting guys came up — I love him to death; I love him, oh my goodness — he goes, ‘Raven, I need you to stop tanning. You’re getting too dark, and we have to re-light the whole entire show,’ ” Raven recalls.
She adds, “I was like, ‘Sorry. I was just trying to be pretty.’ ”
Considering how much value we place on lighter skin in the black community, it’s shocking that Raven saw having darker skin as prettier and that she worked so hard to gain it.
It’s definitely an intriguing and thought-provoking confession and if you’re interested in hearing more about the experience of light-skinned girls, watch Light Girls when it premieres on Monday, Jan. 19 on OWN.
