Bledsoe Blasted for Bleaching
A black actress known for her portrayal of Vanessa Huxtable on “The Cosby Show” has been blasted this week for reportedly bleaching her skin. Tempestt Bledsoe, who’s starring alongside Anthony Anderson in the NBC sitcom “Guys With Kids” was spotted on a red carpet last weekend posing for photographers. A popular gossip site soon speculated that the heavily made-up actress was yet another starlet who’d taken to skin lightening. The website claimed to have gotten its hands on “odd looking” pictures of the actress and remarked,”She looks a lot different than we imagined!”
Since the article was published, however, fans have taken to comment sections on various forums to defend the actress. “Stop trying to capitalize on people’s health conditions, it’s messed up!” wrote one user.
“Y’all wanna accuse everyone of bleaching to try and be white,” they added. Others simply contended that she was wearing the wrong shade of foundation.
“I think she just has makeup on that is many many shades to light for her natural complexion,” said a fan online.
Many fans also noted that the actress has a large birthmark on her arm and speculated that it could be the skin condition vitiligo. Vitiligo of course causes depigmentation of large sections of skin and was made prominent by the late Michael Jacskon. Bledsoe has yet to address this week’s bleaching claims.
Before these recent lightening accusations however, Bledsoe did speak on her skin in the form of a commercial about the dangers of skin cancer. Joined by Megan McCain, Brandy, Tatyan Ali and a number of other stars, the actress posed nude and cheekily encouraged viewers to protect themselves with sunscreen. “I played tennis [naked], said Bledsoe. The ad noted that 20 people die a day from the disease.
In 2011 similar skin lightening claims plagued Bledsoe after she appeared on a red carpet with her boyfriend of nearly 20 years, Darryl Bell, with a similar look.
While Bledsoe is the latest celeb to be “outed” by media with bleaching claims, she’s certainly not the first. Check out a few more celebs who’ve faced similar criticism below. -danielle canada
