Linda Osifo: Why I Almost Considered Skin Bleaching

Linda Osifo: Why I Almost Considered Skin Bleaching

Nollywood actress, Linda Osifo, discloses how she once considered skin bleaching during her time in Canada due to the impact of racial slurs she encountered.

The talented actress, who was originally born in Benin City, Nigeria, and later moved to Canada at the age of 16, revealed that the racism she endured was particularly distressing because it emanated from close individuals.

Linda Osifo shared this experience during a recent interview with media personality Chude Jideonwo who asked about her skin bleaching intentions.

The host, Chude, asked: “You talked about wanting to bleach your skin because when you grow up people would call me a monkey (sic). [Did] this literally happen?”

In her words;

“Yeah. It happens absolutely. And it happens from your shade too, you know. So, that’s why it’s even more of a weird thing.

“I always feel that those who get bullied, don’t get bullied by outsiders. It’s from within. Because if somebody else says it, you may not care but if somebody who is around you, who you are always kinda seeing every other day says it, it hurts more.

“This was when I was a teenager in Canada. The positive aspect of moving [back] to Nigeria, was seeing more of individuals who look just like me.”

Alamu Tosin

The writer is Alamu Tosin. I have three strong passions in life — football, blogging and movies — in that order. I love spending time with friends talking about the important things in life and hate nothing more than ‘authority’ and hypocrisy. My personal believe in life is that once an individual sets his/her mind to achieve something, it is totally possible. And oh!, I am a strong Lannister, because I always pay my debt. For writing or fixing gigs, contact tosinalamu@gmail.com.