Nadiya Hussain said she didn’t wan to ‘rock the boat’ at the time but would not let it happen now
(Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Rex)Nadiya Hussain has revealed that make-up artists purposely lightened her skin for photoshoots.
The 37-year-old, who won 2015’s The Great British Bake Off, said she was too scared to speak up as she feared “rocking the boat" in the aftermath of the show.
“Early on, I've had magazine shoots and felt my skin was lighter [afterwards].
“I've also had instances where I've sat in a make-up artist's chair and they've visibly made my skin lighter.
“Early on, I remember hearing a lot of tutting, like ‘oh I can't get the right shade' and then my skin being lighter in the pictures," the celebrity baker, who grew up in Luton to Bangladeshi parents, told The Mirror.
“If somebody did that to me now, I would say, 'Absolutely no way. That's not okay.'"
“But back then I was scared to rock the boat. It would never happen with my make-up artist, who really knows my skin."
Hussain, who has gone on to forge a successful career in TV and as a cookbook author, also revealed that she did not wear make-up until her late twenties because cosmetic brands did not make foundations in the right shades for darker skin.
“I didn’t get into make-up until my late twenties because I couldn’t ever find the right shade of foundation,” said Hussain, who is now a brand ambassador for IT Cosmetics.
“That might seem really small for lots of people but for those of us who cannot find a foundation colour, you feel really excluded.
“You feel like there’s an entire beauty industry that isn’t thinking about you, and that you almost don’t exist.”
The TV star, who also revealed that she cried the first time she found foundation that matched her skin, continued: “I’d spent my whole life feeling like I didn’t fit.”
