This archive report was first published on 17 December 2019.
Actress Bridget Achieng has revealed that her decision to bleach her skin was influenced by her experiences of job discrimination in the past.
According to Bridget, she was once turned down for a job interview because of her skin color, with the interviewer favoring a lighter-skinned candidate.
'Honestly, I did not have an issue with my colour,' Bridget said. 'The media and people in general love favoring light skin girls. I had won an interview but they turned me down because I was dark. Right now is when people are being told to love their colour.'
Bridget also spoke about the societal pressure she faced in her social circle, which made her feel that being black was a bad thing.
'Before then people always favoured light skins,' she said. 'The circle I was in made me feel like being black was a bad thing. I know a lot of dark-skinned girls who are dark and hot, there are things God makes you go through and I cannot say I regret.'
When asked about the cost of her bleaching process, Bridget revealed that she spent around 10 million shillings over a period of six years, applying the cream to her body every day.
'Yes, I did,' she said. 'But it's not an amount you spend at once, I chose to lighten step by step because if you do it once it can shock the body. It's the same way someone can use Arimis or vaseline for years, do you count the amount you have used or how many tubs you have used? I apply the cream on my body every day like you would apply vaseline and I have done it for the last six years.'
