Amber Rose has fought "racism and feminism" throughout her adult life.
The 33-year-old model has responded to rap star Kodak Black’s confession that he prefers light-skinned black women to darker women in a lengthy post on Instagram, in which she has detailed her own experiences of dealing with prejudice.
The Philadelphia-born star – who comes from a mixed race family – wrote: "Modeling jobs, boys and opportunities came to me easier but did not realize that until I got older. Growing up in Philly I went to an all black school. I was the "white girl" The one that the boys DIDN’T like, The girl that wasn’t as cool as the brown skinned girls. Black was the thing to be!
"But for me my mom was my only black parent, my dad was as white as snow and I came out just as light as him. I would lay out in the sun and try to get as dark as I could. I would look at all of the beautiful dark skinned girls in my class and wish that I could wear bright color shirts like they did but it never quite looked as good on my complexion…… but the Brown skinned girls would pick on me, pull my hair and want to fight me for no reason? Why tho?! I loved them! I wanted to be them! Little did I know at such a young age society was teaching them to hate me. Society was telling these girls that they weren’t as beautiful as me because of their complexion. (sic)"
Amber subsequently stressed the need for women, regardless of their appearance, to stick together.
Alongside a video of Kodak’s comments, she continued: "Getting older I found myself always battling racism and feminism, asking directors why isn’t there any dark skinned girls in the music videos I was featured in? Even when I was Stripper maybe there were 1 or 2 brown skinned girls that would get hired because they didn’t want the club to be too "Black".
"I can’t help that I was born with light skin but I am a woman before anything else! We need to stick together as women and educate society, educate men like this with black mothers! Not let men/people dictate what type of woman is in style or more beautiful. We are all smart and capable of being great! No matter where we come from or what complexion we are! If no one tells you you’re beautiful I’m here to tell you that you are! (sic)"
Amber Rose weighs in on skin colour row
