Nadine Lustre recalls trying different lightening treatments due to morena skin insecurities
Nadine Lustre recounted a difficult moment in her life when she felt insecure growing up with a darker skin color.
In a vlog on One Down’s YouTube channel, the actress reacted to several toxic Filipino mindsets and gave her opinion on them. One hot take is how "darker skin color is not beautiful," to which Nadine strongly disagreed with.
Recalling her own troubled experience with her skin, Nadine said, "I think when I was about 13, people would say that I was too dark. When I would go to auditions, they would only cast girls who are mestiza or have lighter skin. It became an insecurity of mine."
Her insecurity reached a point where she was persuaded to try a variety of lightening treatments to hide her morena skin color, but she eventually learned to love her natural beauty.
"I really went through the whole thing where you do gluta. You use whitening soap, you scrub calamansi on your body, or lemon," Nadine detailed.
"As I grew up, I learned to just love the skin that I’m in, and to just appreciate the beauty that I have. When I traveled to France, people really liked my skin color. They would say, ‘Damn, I wish I could get your tan.’ People just like what they don’t have," she continued.
Elsewhere in the video, the local star also gave her reaction to the hot take that "Filipinos glorify unrealistic beauty standards," noting how the mindset can be observed in reality.
"That's very true, probably because we were colonized for a very long time. We've been conditioned to like things that are not ours because we think that that's better than what we have," Nadine said.
"We're kayumanggi, we're all dark-skinned. Our facial features are not very prominent as well, and honestly, I find that beautiful," she added.
Nadine has had several moments where she unapologetically clapped back against body-shamers. For instance, back in October 2022, she made rounds online over her iconic response to a social media user who said to her, "Gurl, ang dumi at dry kasi ng balat mo kaya mukha kang matanda."
Nadine then replied: "At least ‘di kasing dumi ng ugali mo."
