Priyanka Chopra regrets endorsing fairness creams: I had believed that dark skin was not pretty

Priyanka Chopra. Image source: Yogen Shah

Priyanka Chopra has been quite vocal on the raging debate on racism and body shaming. Now, in a recent interview, the actress has spoken about racial discrimination she had to face in her life. She also talked about the hostility she experienced after endorsing skin-whitening creams in India.

The actress said that she now regrets endorsing fairness creams in India. Talking to Marie Claire magazine, Priyanka said, "[Skin lightening] was so normalized in South Asia; it's such a large industry that everyone was doing it. In fact, doing it is still a check [mark] when you are a female actor, but it's awful. And it was awful for me, for a little girl who used to put talcum-powder cream on my face because I believed that dark skin was not pretty."

She also shared her bullying experience. "It's so difficult to hear you talk about it right now. In high school, I feel like the kids who were after me didn't even understand why. I think it's that they decided that they were more powerful than someone else - me - and when you pick on someone, it's because you're insecure. Bullying happens to kids and adults. It happens with positions of power, and we've all seen that abused in multiple ways."

"It affected me adversely. It affected my confidence; it affected who I wanted to be. I felt exposed, when your skin is raw", she added.

A few days back, Priyanka in an interview had talked about how boys started following her from school, which made her father put bars on her windows. However, the two shared a deep bond and were "best of friends." Recalling his words, she said, "No matter what you do, good, bad, or ugly, you can come and tell me. I will help you fix it. I won't judge you, I will always be in your corner. I'll always be on your team."

A few months back, in an interview, the Don 2 actress had revealed that her father had asked her to refrain from wearing tight clothes and the two went on to have a "big clash of egos". She said, "I'd left as a 12-year-old flat-chested, curly-haired kid and I came back as a 16-year-old almost-woman. I think my dad was really shaken up by that. He didn't know what to do with me for the first couple of weeks."

Last week, the Don actress had shared a throwback picture of her teenage. In the picture, Chopra flaunted her lean body while posing effortlessly for the camera. Sharing the picture, the Agneepath star wrote, "Lean, mean and all of 17!!!#Unfinished (sic)".

On the work front, Priyanka was last seen opposite Rajkummar Rao in The White Tiger. Before this, she was seen romancing with Farhan Akhtar in The Sky Is Pink. On the personal front, she is working on her memoir book Unfinished and is reportedly going to release in the following month.