Habibat Jinadu says she bleached her skin because directors kept calling her too dark

Nollywood actress Habibat Jinadu says she bleached her skin after directors called her too dark, and why she stopped in 2023 after she became pregnant.

She says she bleached her skin because directors kept telling her she was too dark to be cast. She shared the story in an interview with BBC Yoruba, reported on October 29, 2026, and it has people talking about colourism in the film industry again.

According to her, the industry she was trying to break into at the time leaned towards fair-skinned and chubby actresses, while dark-skinned and slim women were often overlooked. She said that whenever the lights came on during a shoot, a director would remark that she was too dark. She tried to ignore such comments at first, but an insult about her appearance made the pressure harder to shrug off.

“I bleached my skin because if you were dark-skinned, then you would not get a role,” she said. After she made the change, she added, the roles started coming.

It came at a cost, though. Jinadu said she wasn’t happy with what she was doing but kept going anyway. People around her could no longer recognise her, and small bruises on movie sets began turning into injuries and skin tears.

Things changed in 2023 when she became pregnant and had to stop. Stopping didn’t bring peace either. She said people started insulting her and calling her names over how different she looked.

This isn’t the first time she’s spoken about it. On Biola Bayo’s Talk To B podcast in 2024, Jinadu alleged that she faced humiliating comments about her dark complexion on a movie set. Actress Linda Osifo has also said she considered lightening her skin after facing discrimination at auditions for roles that called for fair-complexioned actors.

Reactions online were mixed in tone but similar in spirit. According to Trendnaija, many social media users said colourism remains a real problem in the entertainment industry, while others said nobody should be made to feel ashamed of their natural skin. Health experts have also repeatedly warned about the dangers of some skin-lightening creams.

Her story leaves a question the industry may want to sit with. How many talented actresses were told they didn’t look the part before they ever got the chance to show what they could do?