Nigeria’s drag queen, Idris Okuneye, better known as Bobrisky, has expressed regrets at bleaching his skin.
The 27-year-old made the shocking revelation in Beverly Naya’s documentary film, Skin, screened at the opening of the 2019 iREPRESENT International Documentary Film Festival held at Freedom Park, Lagos on Wednesday.
“If I can change one thing about myself it is to go back to my complexion. The stress of keeping my fair complexion is too much. You have to rub your toes and rub your knuckles,” he said.
Going expletive, he added, “It is f**king stressful.”
Skin is an honest look at colourism in Nigeria.
It features candid testimonies by women dealing with insecurities and prejudice about their skin.
Beverly is joined by celebrities like Hilda Dokubo and Eku Edewor.
Dermatologists, sex workers and dealers in whitening creams also shared their experiences.
A product of a dysfunctional family, Bobrisky said in the film, “I didn’t want to just be a celebrity. So, I gave it some thought and I said what will I do to make Nigerians to talk?
“I finished school and I said I don’t want to work for anybody. So, I stopped being Idris. Today, I make money from my creams all over the world. I sell a full package for N200,000. Some days I sell four or three. It depends.”
Like many of the speakers, Bobrisky confessed their changing skin colour boils down to insecurity.
“Insecurity makes people bleach. You bleach because you are not comfortable in your own skin. The most common reason is you don’t love yourself. You don’t appreciate yourself, how God has made you.”
In spite of his desire for his old skin, the internet sensation said “I will say I am beautiful in the sense that if you look at my old picture and you see Bobrisky now you will see a huge difference.”
