Rowland on Colorism: Beyoncé's Mom Helped Me

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Evidently, Beyoncé's mom was more than just a stlyist to Destiny's Child. To at least one of its members, she was also a voice of reason and an antidote to negative messages about black beauty.  

Here's what Kelly Rowland had to say in a recent interview in Clutch magazine about the role Tina Knowles played in her ability to reject colorism and embrace her skin color:

You know what I had great women in my life to help me overcome that. I remember I went through a period where I didn't embrace my chocolatiness. I don't know if that's a word, but I didn't embrace my chocolate lifestyle. Just being a chocolate, lovely brown skin girl and being proud of that. I remember being out in the sun and I was trying to shield myself from the sun and [Beyonce's mom Tina Knowles] said, 'Are you crazy?' She said 'You are absolutely gorgeous' and she just told me how beautiful I was and how rare chocolate is and how gorgeous the skin is, all of this stuff. And I was just like 'Yeah!' Like a light went off and so and my mother had me sitting out in the sun a little more, just to be a little more chocolate.

Read more at Clutch magazine.

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