Trevor Noah felt "imprisoned" after trying to fit in.
The 40-year-old comedian admitted that when he was a child, the "worst advice" he was given was to try to follow the crowd and these days, he would advise all young people to be true to themselves as much as possible.
He told The Observer: "I think the worst advice was that you have to try to fit in. You’d meet somebody you don’t get along with and you’d be told: 'Just tolerate it for now.'
"It’s only in later life that you realise that a prison comes with not being yourself around the people you wish to build a life with.
"So that was probably the worst advice I got as a kid: people telling me to suck it up so that I could maintain connections with other people in my life. The advice I would give a kid today would be: 'Be yourself as much as you can.' Some people you’ll lose along the way, but the ones you keep will know the real you."
The former 'Daily Show' host has now written his first children's book, titled 'Into the Uncut Grass', but has previously credited his mother Patricia as a major influence in his other work and noted that using her in fiction allowed him to "understand" why he loves her so much.
He said: "One of the biggest positive effects is that it’s forced me in a very active way to think about why I appreciate my mother, and to see her as a human being and not just as a mother.
"We never really spend time thinking of our parents as human beings because we are tied to them. It helped me understand why I love my mother beyond because you’re supposed to. When you write about somebody, you get to understand all the shades and layers that make them who they are to you."
