Friday, March 29, 2024

‘Empire’s’ Grace Gealey on Being ‘Discriminated Against for Being Light-Skinned’

grace-gealey*Grace Gealey may have been born and raised in the Cayman Islands, but she has become familiar with American colorism among black women and the pushback she’s gotten from being a light-skinned woman.

In a recent interview with Details magazine, the “Empire” star touched on how surprised she is about issue of skin color among light-skinned and dark-skinned women.

“For me personally, it’s the whole light-skinned/dark-skinned dynamic [for women of color]. I mean, there’s competition among women everywhere you go. But back home we understand that you can look like a variety of things and still be from the same culture,” said Gealey, who plays Anika Calhoun (aka Boo Boo Kitty) on the addictive Fox show. “I’ve never felt like I was a light-skinned black woman. Never felt that way because we shared the same culture back home. But when I came to America, that’s when I started to feel that there was a lot of pushback from women. I was definitely made aware that I am light-skinned. I realized that was a thing here.”

As the interview progressed, Gealey opened up about being on the receiving end of discrimination in the States from having a light-skinned complexion.

“I was discriminated against for being light-skinned and there were a lot of labels. Some people assumed that guys might like me more because of my complexion or that I had it easier in general. Which is funny because I’ve been a victim of prejudice as well: There were times when I have walked into a Rite Aid at 12 o’clock at night and had the store manager stand in the corner and stare at me while I was looking at nail polishes.”

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