Leigh-Anne Pinnock has praised Meghan Markle for speaking out over racism in her Oprah interview, proving even the rich and famous are not exempt from abuse.
The Little Mix singer, 29, who’s admitted to years of ‘not feeling good enough’ as a result of racism in the music industry, said Meghan documenting her experiences was ‘brave’ and provided evidence the problem exists in all walks of life.
Leigh-Anne lauded Meghan, 39, ahead of her new BBC Three documentary Race, Pop & Power, in which she voices her doubts over whether she would have been chosen for Little Mix if her skin was ‘some shades darker’ after spending her career feeling ‘held back’ by her race.
‘She’s amazing’: Leigh-Anne Pinnock has praised Meghan Markle for speaking out over racism in her Oprah interview, proving even the rich and famous are not exempt from abuse
When asked about Meghan, Leigh-Anne replied: ‘I mean what a brave and an incredible thing to do to speak out like that. I think she’s amazing.
‘It just shows racism doesn’t exclude you. If you’re a black person it’s going to affect you at some point in your life.
‘I think she really showed that and I hope people could see that it doesn’t matter how much money you have or how successful you are it still affects you.’
Leigh-Anne shot to fame aged 20 when she won the X Factor with Little Mix alongside band mates Jade Thirlwall, 28, Perrie Edwards, 27, and Jesy Nelson, 29, who left the band last year.
‘It still affects you’: The Little Mix star, who’s admitted to years of ‘not feeling good enough’ as a result of racism in the music industry, said Meghan documenting her experiences was ‘brave’
‘Why did I feel invisible?’: In her new BBC doc Race, Pop & Power, Leigh-Anne voices her doubts over whether she would have been chosen for Little Mix if her skin was ‘shades darker’
The mother-to-be, who announced she’s pregnant last week, said she was ‘petrified’ after being forced to dye and shave her hair as part of her ‘look’ for the band in 2011.
She’s since realised she was being moulded into the ‘Rihanna’ of the group, which marked the beginning of Leigh-Anne being treated differently.
‘It’s so mad that I look back on that now and think ‘wow,’ Leigh-Anne explained.
‘Because at the time it was like ‘ah you want to shave my head, okay! Obviously petrified but I’ll do it, if I have to.’
‘But when I look back on it I’m like, well of course they were going to dye my hair red and shave it to look like the ‘Rihanna’… of course they were going to do that.
‘So it’s mad to look back on these things and see them in a different way now.’
‘Petrified’: Leigh-Anne believes she was moulded to look like the ‘Rihanna’ of the group when she was forced to dye and shave her hair on the X Factor (November 2011)
Leigh-Anne also recalled being left out of the nominations for Capital FM’s Sexist Female while band mates Jade, Jesy and Perrie all received votes.
It wasn’t until 2018 that Leigh-Anne finally won the award after spending years questioning why she wasn’t acknowledged.
The radio station ended the annual competition that has always been voted for by their listeners in the same year, making Leigh-Anne the last Sexiest Female.
She said: ‘There was one time when a radio station, they were doing Sexiest Female and they would do it every year and all the other girls had been nominated every single year except for me.
‘It got to 2017 or something and I finally got nominated and I was like wow. I wrote this thing out basically saying ‘you never made me feel less beautiful’ but it made me think, why wasn’t I nominated as well?
‘It’s these little things you look back on and think there’s something not right here.’
In documentary Race, Pop & Power, Leigh-Anne looks back at her 10-year career as one quarter of the biggest girl bands in the world.
The star, whose mum Deborah is half Bajan and dad John is half Jamaican, doubts she would have been given the opportunity if her skin tone was ‘shades darker’ while comparing being in Little Mix to living in a ‘white world.’
She said: ‘The confidence I have in myself for so many years was ripped away from me, just not feeling good enough and not knowing why.
‘Why do I feel like this? Why do I have these feelings? Why did I feel invisible? It makes me think more into the fact there are so few dark skinned females right now in the music industry.
‘What is it about dark skinned women that they don’t deem as marketable? It really does make me think if I was some shades darker would I be sat here right now? I don’t know.
‘I want to see more diversity’: The star, whose mum Deborah is half Bajan and dad John is half Jamaican, compares being in Little Mix to living in a ‘white world’
‘With pop music from whatever I’ve experienced it is such a white world and I want to see more diversity and if you think music is led by hip hop and R&B, you can’t just take bits of the culture and not actually give people these opportunities, it doesn’t even make sense.
‘When I’m seeing that and going into work and it is predominately white I’m like we’re taking influence from black music so why am I not around black people?
‘I can speak for pop music and the representation is nowhere near where it should be.’
As part of her mission to improve diversity within all areas of the music industry Leigh-Anne contacted those in senior positions at record label Sony as she hoped for their backing.
‘I’m not going to sit back’: Leigh-Anne admits she is ‘saddened’ by the lack of effort that’s been shown by her bosses at music label Sony to improve diversity in the workplace (November 2020)
She was unsuccessful as no one agreed to meet with her on camera, while months after filming the documentary finished, Leigh-Anne is still ‘saddened’ by the lack of effort that’s been shown from her big bosses.
She said: ‘It’s so important for me that I’m seeing diversity on the video shoots, on the photo shoots, at my workplace and it’s something I’ve been drilling since the doc.
‘I don’t feel like we’re there yet, which is quite sad but I feel like we’re on our way and there are initiatives that Sony have started. I hope to see a change because it’s not fair and not the way it should be and I’m not going to take it anymore.
‘I’m not going to sit back and not say anything like I did for so many years, that was my normal and it’s not normal and something has to change so I’m going to keep going until I see that change.’
‘I don’t feel like we’re there yet’: No one from Sony agreed to meet with Leigh-Anne on camera during filming of Race, Pop & Power to discuss the issues but have since started new initiatives
‘It felt amazing to have those conversations’: Leigh-Anne was supported in the documentary by band mate Jade (pictured) as well as pop star Raye and R&B soul artist Nao
Leigh-Anne is supported in the documentary by band mate Jade, Keisha Buchanan, 36, from the Sugababes, X Factor winner Alexandra Burke, 32, pop star Raye, 23, and R&B soul artist Nao, 33.
Together they shared their own experiences of racism within the music industry in scenes Leigh-Anne now describes as ‘therapy.’
She said: ‘For me it felt amazing to have those conversations with other black creatives I’ve never been able to do that before.
‘Being in my Little Mix pop bubble – my white world, I was never around black creatives to be able to relate and share these experiences.
‘Being in that room with these incredible women and hearing what they had to say and their accounts was horrible because I couldn’t believe how bad it was but at the same time it was like healing and therapy, being able to be so open with each other, I’ve never been able to do that before. I left that room feeling so empowered.’
‘I left that room so empowered’: Keisha Buchanan from the Sugababes and X Factor winner Alexandra Burke also shared their experiences of racism in the music industry with Leigh-Anne
Leigh-Anne announced she’s expecting her first child with footballer fiancé Andre Gray, 29, last week.
The singer, who’s setup foundation The Black Fund that aims to support black communities, vowed to teach her unborn baby about their culture and isn’t against them one day pursuing a career in music.
She said: ‘I see the way my sister is with her son and I love that she instills in him how incredible and beautiful he is and how he can achieve anything and that’s exactly how I’m going to be with my children.
‘I’m going to teach them about black history and black rights and who they are and their culture. But the main thing I’m going to teach them is they can do anything.’
- Leigh-Anne: Race, Pop & Power is on BBC Three on iPlayer at 6am and BBC One at 9pm on Thursday 13 May
‘They can do anything’: The singer vowed to teach her baby, who she shares with fiancé Andre Gray, about their culture and isn’t against them one day pursuing a music career