Mzansi weighs in on Pearl Thusi 'burning' her skin when she was younger to stop bullying

Actress Pearl Thusi has again weighed in on the colourism debate, revealing how she used to burn her skin to try to fit in. 

The Queen Sono star made the revelation in a recent interview on Podcast and Chill with Mac G.

Pearl shared her thoughts on “light skin privilege” and said, growing up, she was the only light-skinned person in her group. She added that she was often made fun of and bullied for being and looking different. 

When asked whether she wished she was darker-skinned, Pearl said she used to burn her skin as a child because of the teasing.

“Uh, I used to like burn my skin when I was a kid to stop the teasing,” Thusi told Mac G. 

Pearl also cleared the air on her heated exchange about colourism with fellow actress Bonnie Mbuli in 2019, after Bonnie claimed that Pearl was only booked for acting roles because of her skin colour.

Pearl explained that she was not saying colourism was not a thing, however being told she was only successful because of her skin colour was unfair. She said such comments brought up her childhood issues.

“They want someone to be upset with, people need someone to be a villain in their story and when you’ve been the chosen one to be the villain, sometimes you’ve just got to accept that and keep walking.

“My journey has been an interesting one and one day I’ll tell it, but I’m so exhausted defending what I am and who I am,” she said.

Soon her name landed on the Twitter trends list again, as fans weighed in on her comments.

Here are some of the reactions: 

In October, Pearl spoke to True Love magazine about the exchange with Bonnie, saying  colonialism and apartheid had led to people “fighting each other”.

“Colonialism and apartheid were successful in their quest, because to this day we're still fighting each other. People aren't ready to have the colourism conversation — and that means listening and not waiting for the next person to finish so you can respond.”

She added that until Mzansi was ready, she'd rather do something tangible about colourism than turn it into a fruitless, trending topic.