TV presenter and actress Pearl Thusi has revealed why she is lighter than most South Africans, especially those of Zulu origin.
She told Glen Lewis on Touch HD on Tuesday morning,
“My father is dark. My mother was slightly light. I have a recessive gene from five generations back on my dad’s side. My ancestors five generations back were mixed race and so that is where it came from. With a gene recession it is normal, that for years nobody would be born light, or have blue eyes, until a few generations later.”
“When I was born my mother was so stressed. You know that all kids are light when they are born, but I was different. My mother was really stressed thinking ‘Oh my gosh, they gonna think that I messed up,'” she said, with a laugh.
Pearl also spoke on why her skin colour is a big part of her life and how people say she won’t be as good looking if she were dark
Colour has always been such a big part of my life. As a child, being teased by other kids, that’s how I became aware of the colour of my skin. That it was different. Being taunted ‘You only seem pretty because you’re light. You wouldn’t be pretty if you were dark.’ I wished and prayed to be darker. To be accepted… I didn’t want to be different. I didn’t want to be a target,”
