Phylicia Rashad and Debbie Allen’s colorism story is a reminder that beauty standards start young
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Phylicia Rashad and Debbie Allen’s story reveals how colorism, comparison, and beauty standards can shape Black women’s self-image from childhood into adulthood.
For generations of Black communities, actress Phylicia Rashad has been seen as one of the beacons of grace and beauty. However, in a recent conversation on the “IMO Podcast” hosted by Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson, Rashad revealed that she once did not see herself as beautiful in comparison to her sister Debbie Allen.
“I think if there was competition that I felt, I always felt that Debbie was beautiful and that I was not,” Rashad shared. “I don’t remember what led to the conversation, but I said to Deborah that I had always wanted to be beautiful, like her, and she looked at me, she said, ‘But you’re the beautiful one, you’re the one. I was always trying to be beautiful like you,’ and then we broke down and started crying.”
“We grew up with that foolishness, that colorism, foolishness that brown paper bag [test] foolishness,” Allen interjected. “I remember one time Phylicia loved chocolate milk, and we were drinking chocolate milk, and my uncle said to her, ‘Girl, you better drink all the white milk you can.’ That was so ugly.”
“I think that’s why Phylicia felt, but Phylicia looked more like Mama than me. And I always wished that I was pretty like her,” Allen added.
The conversation points to an issue that has plagued communities since slavery: colorism. Unfortunately, the practice of discrimination by which those with lighter skin are treated more favorably than those with darker skin occurs interracially and intraracially. Research has found that the phenomenon has had serious consequences on communities’ mental health, physical health, and social experiences. So, colorism is a known phenomenon that has been discussed and studied through various platforms, often under the “light skin vs. dark skin” label.
However, Rashad and Allen’s conversation spotlights just how much even a little extra melanin led to discrimination and prejudice within one’s family. For most people looking at the two sisters, their complexions differ by only a few foundation shades, yet that slight difference led Rashad to receive comments that affected her self-image.
And unfortunately, it is an experience generations of women can relate to.
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And as Obama noted in the conversation, colorism and comparison are among the many ways society tries “to make women feel insecure.” If it’s not a comment about a woman’s complexion, it’s a comment about her weight. If not her weight, then her age or the way she’s aging.
We’ve seen it most recently in the discourse about Jasmine Guy’s appearance in the “A Different World” sequel and in the way some podcasters discussed the women of “Living Single.” A woman’s appearance somehow always becomes a topic of discussion. From a young age, girls see that scrutiny and internalize it, whether or not it’s aimed at them, and more often than not, they step onto the hamster wheel of trying to keep up with unrealistic beauty expectations.
Most women find a sense of self as they get older, but they shouldn’t have to spend years battling insecurities fueled by outside comments, biases, and expectations to get there. As Allen notes: “This perception of beauty has to start within.”
“Be able to be comfortable in your skin. God made you; you’re beautiful. Accept the beauty of that,” she continued, admitting that she likes the “little lines” in her face. “Aging gracefully…the first thing is to be able to admit your age.”