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For months, Black folk wondered why actress Meagan Good suddenly appeared several shades lighter on the red carpet. Beyond deceptive lighting or the wrong shade of makeup, it was clear that something was intentionally being done to change her skin tone.
And because Good wasn’t saying anything about her skin, fans assumed the worst. That she was bleaching. She wouldn’t be the first celebrity of color to do something so drastic.
But over the weekend, in an Instagram comment, Good shared that she used a product to correct sun spots under the advice of an unlicensed healthcare professional.
While the response certainly assured us that Good wasn’t caught in the matrix of self-hate, there were still lingering questions about how she got to the point of appearing almost unrecognizable.
Thankfully, in an interview with Ashley Dunn, of “Where Is The Buzz Tv,” Good broke it all the way down. See what she had to say below.
“It broke my heart to think that there’s little girls seeing this commentary and thinking it’s true. It broke my heart that in a season when you have young Black men and women being murdered everywhere that someone would think for one second that I don’t love my Black skin. That bothered me. And when it all first happened, it was extremely traumatic because I went to this woman for a scar removal, like a dog bite on my leg. And you know, she said try my products. I think you have a little sun damage on your forehead. And I said, ‘No, that’s okay. That’s like natural contour, girl. It’s great. It’s fine.’
And it was something that bothered me a little bit but I was like, it’s fine. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. And I used her anti-aging products and they were phenomenal. So I was like, ‘Oh, she’s the truth.’ And after I used her anti-aging product, I did find out that she was unlicensed. But I didn’t think it was a big deal because I’d already used her products and I felt good about it.
Then, when she said let me fix the sun damage. I was like, ‘Well, now I trust her. It’s fine.’ And I start using it—and someone asked me today—‘If it was just your forehead, then why your whole face?’ Because she said it everything needed to be even so just use it, wash with it. Your whole face. And as I saw myself getting lighter, I started freaking out and I said, ‘What’s going on?’ And she said, ‘Oh no, no. It’s just going to lift the damage first and then everything will come back.’ And I said, ‘Oh ok, cool.’ And I saw myself getting lighter. And I was like, ‘What is happening?!’ And she was like, ‘Oh, don’t worry your color will come back.’ And I said, ‘But when is it going to come back?’ She said, ‘It’ll come back soon I promise.’
Cut to it’s two months down the line, my color hasn’t come back. I’m freaking out. DeVon’s starting to freak out. Then I book this tv show. I go to New York to film this tv show. I’m feeling so insecure and just not liking the way I look. And then those pictures happen.
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And I was like, basically, ‘This has to be fixed now.’ I have to be on tv. So she was like, ‘Use this serum. You put it on for 15 mins every other day and your color will come back immediately.’ And I’m like, ‘Why didn’t you tell me that to begin with?’ So I did it but I used it for thirty minutes. The serum attached to my face and wouldn’t come off. And as I washed it and washed it and scrubbed, I had flesh on my face where my skin had ripped off. And my face was scarred and that’s when the picture happened because I had to wear so much makeup to cover the scabbing. Basically, even after that, it was just a nightmare. And I started going to a dermatologist who fixed me.
Again, I’m still 20 percent away from where I want to be but I’m on the road to recovery and it is what it is. But the biggest thing was like, I just didn’t want to address it because I didn’t want to give it life and I just wanted to move on with my life. But it’s hard for me not to when colorism is such a big thing and self -love is such a big thing. And with everything that’s happening around us, I love myself a lot and I love my brown skin a lot.”
Dunn said the fact that Good was experiencing all of that behind the scenes while simultaneously dealing with the public’s perception must have been very difficult.
Good responded, “Yeah it got under my skin a little bit. But what I realized is while I was in it, I couldn’t defend myself because I looked crazy and I had to just sit with it and just be okay with some people are going to think what they’re going to think. And what I realize was like my prayer was after I had gotten married and dealt with a lot of the church folk thing, my prayer for the last couple years was, ‘Lord, deliver me from caring about what other people think about me.’ And I know in the Bible it says if you need to correct something, you should but if you don’t need to, let it be.
And what I realized is, you didn’t make this happen but you allowed it to happen and there’s an opportunity for me here to grow in this space. Because I have no control. I can’t defend myself. There’s nothing I can do. So I have to get to a place of just being like, ‘They’re going to think what they’re going to think and finding the balance of that.’ So that’s why for a long time I didn’t say anything. And when the other day, I did it was less for me as much as it’s for I don’t want the babies thinking that. I want them to love themselves and I don’t want to be someone who appears to be an example out there saying that that’s okay.”
You can watch this portion of their interview in the video below.
