Kelly Rowland struggled to feel “beautiful” when she was younger because of a lack of Black role models.
The Destiny’s Child singer admits she found it difficult to find women who looked like her in the magazines when she was growing up.
Speaking on “The Real,” she said: “I remember this one thing specifically. I was looking at this magazine, and it said, ‘What Beauty Looks Like,’ and it was all women that didn’t look like me, with blonde hair, and I was thinking, if that’s what beauty looks like, where do I fit in? And it’s just so interesting because you put all these visuals out here, and media’s responsible for that, these different companies are responsible for that, so you have to be really careful because I think, as a kid, you want to be able to see yourself through so many different women. That’s why this show is so important and social media is so important. We have to remember that it’s more than just us.”
She had previously insisted she is “proud to be chocolate” amid accusations she had bleached her skin.
She explained in a now-deleted video: “So I just landed in L.A., and I saw that a lot of people are like, ‘Oh my god, she bleaches her skin!’ Now, I never answer questions like this because I think it’s so stupid or even says anything about comments about this … I am not the one to bleach my skin, nor do I want to bleach my skin, nor do I have to bleach my skin. I don’t even think that. It’s not for me. So, don’t go saying stupid stuff like that. Dude, I am still chocolate. Forever chocolate. Proud to be chocolate.”
