Pop star Leigh-Anne Pinnock has shown her support to Meghan Markle, after she talked about racism in the bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview.
Little Mix member Leigh-Anne says Meghan’s decision to speak proved that even rich and famous people aren’t safe from racism and abuse.
She said she has spent years “not feeling good enough” because of the racism she has experienced in the music industry.
Leigh-Anne was talking ahead of her BBC Three documentary Race, Pop & Power.
She also said she wonders whether she would have been chosen for Little Mix if her skin was “some shades darker”.
(Image: PA)
Talking about Meghan, Leigh-Anne said: “I mean what a brave and an incredible thing to do to speak out like that. I think she’s amazing.”
“It just shows racism doesn’t exclude you. If you’re a black person it’s going to affect you at some point in your life,” she continued.
“I think she really showed that and I hope people could see that it doesn’t matter how much money you have or how successful you are it still affects you.”
Leigh-Anne announced last week that she’s expecting her first child with her footballer fiancé.
She looked back on her time in the X Factor when she found fame at the age of 20.
(Image: BBC/Dragonfly/Richard Ansett)
The Confetti singer confessed she was ‘petrified’ after being made to dye and shave her hair for the band back in 2011.
She says it was the beginning of her being treated differently to the rest of the group.
“It’s so mad that I look back on that now and think “wow,” Leigh-Anne exclaims.
“Because at the time it was like “ah you want to shave my head, okay! Obviously petrified but I’ll do it, if I have to.”
(Image: Ken McKay/TalkbackThames / Rex F)
‘But when I look back on it I’m like, well of course they were going to dye my hair red and shave it to look like the ‘Rihanna’… of course they were going to do that.
“So it’s mad to look back on these things and see them in a different way now.”
Leigh-Anne’s mum Deborah is half Bajan and dad John is half Jamaican.
She also compared being in Little Mix to living in a “white world.”
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The singer said: “The confidence I have in myself for so many years was ripped away from me, just not feeling good enough and not knowing why.
“Why do I feel like this? Why do I have these feelings? Why did I feel invisible? It makes me think more into the fact there are so few dark skinned females right now in the music industry.
‘What is it about dark skinned women that they don’t deem as marketable? It really does make me think if I was some shades darker would I be sat here right now? I don’t know. “
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
