A woman in Kenya famous for being a socialite (in fact, she's referred to as the country’s version of Kim Kardashian) has caused a media storm after admitting that she has spent 15m shillings (£102,000) on getting her skin lightened.
Vera Sidika, 24, is currently taking a break from doing interior design at uni so she can be an entrepreneur and launch her own hair boutique. However, heralded as owning the ‘most photographed behind in Kenya’, she also gets paid to go to parties, and has a dedicated following of 28,000 Instagram followers, 16,400 Twitter followers and 30,000 Facebook fans.
During an interview with Kenyan talk show The Trend, she ran down how much her weave and shoes cost, then explained – when pressed - that she’s spent a hefty sum on getting her skin lightened. Not bleached, she points out, but lightened.
‘Looking good is my business,’ she explained. ‘My body is my business, nobody else business but mine.’
She added: ‘I needed change and the change is working out for me because right now I have like ten bookings’
Vera then alleged that two of her role models had done the same thing, and she was just following in their footsteps: ‘Nicki Minaj and Rihanna did it. You just have to do it the right way.’
You can watch a video of the show here; the important bit starts at 7:54.
The sad thing is, as much as she’s got all of those extra bookings now her skin is lighter, she doesn’t think it’s a route for other people to take: ‘I’m not encouraging anyone to do it ‘cause it’s not the right thing to do it, but I will tell you that I did it the right way and I went through the right procedure and I had a great dermatologist from the UK.’
She predicted the hatred that she’d be given - skin-lightening is a loaded topic when it comes to conflating plastic surgery with race issues. We're not going to repeat the hate right here. She's right - it's her body and it’s her choice what she does with it. Plus, she did point out that she doesn’t actually want anyone to copy her. So maybe the hate needs to be directed at those bookers who wouldn’t get Vera on board when her skin was darker.
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.