Tan France opens up about bleaching his skin when he was 9

Discussing her childhood for a new documentary, the fashion guru described in detail how she stole bleaching cream from her cousin before secretly applying it.

“(My skin color) is something I think about every day when I wake up,” he said in the documentary “Tan France: Beauty and the Bleach,” which aired in the UK on Wednesday. “I thought: ‘What’s wrong with my skin today?’ And so, at age 9, I was already making big plans to bleach – to do what I could to become as non-Asian as possible.

“I did it behind a closed door,” he recalled. “I kept a lot of money – it stung. In the next half hour (or) hour, you feel like you have the real sunshine.”

Although discomfort prevented her from using the cream again, France revealed that she used the skin polish product again when she was 16, as she was hoping to start dating.

Tan France (center) with the cast of “Queer Eye”. Credit: Rich Polk / IMDb / Getty Images

“We had terrible names for some of the older members of our family who had dark skin,” he said, acknowledging that skin color – and its effect on people’s marriage and employment prospects – was a The theme was “always present”. The debate is growing.

“Our own people say we are not capable unless we are light,” he said.

A BBC documentary shows a 39-year-old man now living in the United States returning to the UK to learn the history and effects of racism. The TV star eventually decided to return to Doncaster, where he was subjected to racial abuse and “many traumatic experiences.”

“Just because some people think I’m light doesn’t mean I don’t have much coloring experience.

“I’ve been obsessed with color all my life. As a kid, I was determined to change the color of my skin,” he said, adding that he later learned about using bleaching creams. Always “blame yourself and kill yourself”.

In an hour-long documentary, France discusses racism with schoolchildren, experts and a former longtime consumer of bleaching products. He also interviews various celebrities, including British actor Benny Mojico and former Destiny Child singer Kelly Rowland.

Explaining how he had “always” heard people describe him as the darkest member of the band, Roland traces his experiences of racism in his early relationship.

“(My boyfriend’s) grandmother compared me to the color of a paper bag and said I had too much dark chocolate for her and she couldn’t date me,” she tells France, adding: ” It impressed me where I was always unsure of what I looked like. He began to describe what beauty was to me. ”

Top Image Caption: Tan France arrives at the 2021 In Style Awards on Monday, November 15, 2021 at the Getty Center in Los Angeles.