When actress Gabrielle Union dyed her hair blond for a film role this past summer, she found social media users questioning her blackness. During Essence Magazine’s Upfront Breakfast in October, Union revealed her experience to the panel.
“It was a brouhaha when I changed my hair to blond for a movie and [I received] questions about my character and my blackness! I was like, ‘umm, I thought that it was pretty clear that it was for a job.’ But even if it wasn’t for a job, it’d be my choice. It feels like my choice — or what they thought was my choice — to be somehow closer to white reflected on everybody.”
Do you think the following entertainers are deliberately shying away from their “blackness”?
Tamar Braxton
The youngest of the Braxton family sisters openly brags about her collection of wigs and weaves and considers the hair with blond highlights her favorite. Fans would be surprised to learn Braxton’s hair is natural under her weaves, but the singer insists it would be hard to part with her weaves.
“My favorite wig is the straight one with bangs and blond highlights. I have become a slave to the wig and the weaves,” she said.
