Irene in 2009…………………………………………………………….Irene Today |
Holland
& Barrett come under fire for selling a controversial skin
lightening cream . . .
Former model Irene Major is a wealthy woman who knows all about looking
after her skin, Daily mail reports.
The wife of Canadian oil tycoon Sam Malin,
Irene, who’s originally from Cameroon, West Africa, has a shocking
admission; she also regularly uses skin-lightening creams to alter the
colour of her complexion. ‘When my skin is lighter, I just feel
prettier,’ she admits with startling candour. ‘
It’s a taboo subject, and
people get judgmental about it, but that’s how I feel.’
Last month, High Street health store Holland & Barrett came under
fire for selling a legal skin-whitening product called Dr Organic Royal
Jelly Skin Body Whitening Cream, which retails for £9.99.
outrage, with some accusing the chain of encouraging racist ideals. Yet Irene,
who’s 34 and lives with her husband and four children in a Kent mansion, claims
that in some communities the pressure on women to use such products is
overwhelming.
part of my life practically since birth,’ she claims. ‘There are many different
types of African skin — from dark charcoal to a lighter version — and you grow
up knowing that the lighter ladies are the prettier ones. It’s just a fact.’
agrees, explaining how disturbing hierarchies of skin colour are still
influencing African girls. ‘Being lighter shows you belong to a different place
on the social ladder. All the rich, successful black African men marry either a
white or a very light-skinned girl because they too grew up thinking that the
lighter is the most pretty. It doesn’t matter how dark a man is, of course —
the pressure is all on women.’