Queer Eye star Tan France says racism in the UK is 'brushed under the carpet'
Tan France: 'Racism in the UK is brushed under the carpet'
Queer Eye's Tan France has said racism in the UK is "brushed under the carpet", adding it's "the reason why I don't live in the UK anymore".
The fashion designer, 39 was born in Doncaster to Muslim Pakistani parents but now lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with his husband and young son, Ismail.
His move to the US aged 24 was prompted in part by the racism he experienced at home.
Speaking to ITV News ahead of his new documentary about skin bleaching and colourism, Mr France told of how he bleached his skin at just nine-years-old in an attempt to lighten it.
He told ITV News he first became aware of his skin tone at around four or five-years-old, and knew "I had to find a way to become lighter".
Tan France is trying to change the perceived stigma around darker skin, as ITV News Entertainment Reporter Rishi Davda reports
Speaking about the difference between colourism and racism, Mr France said: "Colourism is experienced within one race and it is the way of discriminating based on skin tone, so if you're lighter skinned you're deemed as more attractive, if you're darker skinned you're deemed less attractive and less likely to see success in life."
Mr France, who gained American citizenship in 2020, also recalled being the victim of racism as a child, describing an incident that saw him beaten up on his way to school aged just five.
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"As a child it made it very clear to me that the UK was not a safe space for someone like me and that's a really weird realisation for somebody so young", he told ITV News.
He says he feels racism in the UK is "brushed under the carpet and we pretend it doesn't exist", adding "this is the reason why I don't live in the UK any more".
Speaking in a previous interview, Mr France said he had not been shocked by the Duchess of Sussex’s claim that an unnamed royal raised concerns with Harry about how dark their son Archie’s skin tone might be ahead of his birth.
He said: “When I heard the Meghan and Harry stuff about the baby’s skin colour, it didn’t shock me at all", adding, "it is the most common question when a South Asian baby is born".
Speaking about the cosmetic lightening process, he said: “Elders encourage you to try and find a way to be as white as possible by staying out of the sun and – this is going to sound ridiculous – avoiding dark foods that might encourage the skin to darken.
“But I didn’t tell anyone about bleaching because I felt embarrassed. You learn pretty early on to hide the ways in which you are trying to become as light-skinned as possible.”
Tan France: Beauty And The Bleach airs on April 27 on BBC Two.