Folake Olowofoyeku, the actress, has revealed the painful colourism and ridicule she faced growing up in Nigeria, contrasting it with her experience of acceptance in the United States.
Speaking on the One54 Africa podcast, Folake, who is celebrated for her role in the series ‘Bob Hearts Abishola, detailed how her distinctive facial features, particularly her lips, were a source of childhood abuse.
She said it wasn’t until she relocated to the United States at age 18 that the narrative shifted, and she began to receive consistent compliments about her beauty.
The 42-year-old actress recounted a specific memory of confronting a Nigerian friend in her early American years about the stark change in perception.
She noted the ironic shift in attitude that occurred with the rise of Hollywood star Angelina Jolie, famed for her full lips.
The first time I heard I was beautiful on a consistent basis was when I moved to America, she said.
One of the things I remember telling my friend shortly after I moved to America, and I started getting the compliments that you guys lacked imagination because I would be made fun of because of my lips, and he used to call me dodo (plantain) lips.
So that is what I was made fun of most of the time for; it was my lips. Then Angelina Jolie came about, and then everyone. Yeah, like Angie’s better, but like dude, you guys lack imagination because my lips have been here the whole time.
Foluke connected her personal experience to the broader issue of colorism within Nigeria, attributing much of the bias to a colonial-influenced preference for lighter skin.
There is like a colourism thing that happens in Nigeria. I don’t know how prevalent it is right now, but I grew up hearing about it. It wasn’t like I was steeped in it, but I definitely knew that it existed, she said.
I know that I knew there was a preference for lighter skin people and lighter skin people were considered more beautiful.
But at the same time, I was also in a community with a lot of people who looked like me, so it was not too jarring on my person, but I was aware of it, and I did not feel like I thought I found beauty in everything. So I did not acquiesce to that thought process.
