Keisha Buchanan has shared a powerful, 14-minute YouTube video in which she opens up about her experience as the only black woman in Sugababes, saying: "There are so many different ways that a person or people can be racist or prejudice."
The 35-year-old singer spoke frankly about the "scrutiny" and "judgement" she faced while in the band, adding that herself and bandmate Mutya Buena were often made to look "aggressive". Keisha explained: "‘[The band] would have fallouts like most teenage girls, unfortunately when a member would leave it was on a salty note – that experience would then be written up in a way to make myself and Mutya look aggressive, look like bullies basically."
Keisha spoke frankly in the video
She continued: "I have never bullied anyone in my life and that was hard for me to say, because after a while I felt like no one would believe me. Because of all the scrutiny I faced, because of all the judgement I’ve faced, it’s leaked over into my personal life."
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The star achieved huge success with the band
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The singer further explained that in the past, she had been forced to let people steal from her, for fear of being labelled a bully if she called them out. "I’ve had people who have stolen from me and when I call them out on it, they have told me that they were being bullied by me," Keisha said. "I let them get away with it because I was so scared they would say she’s bullied me."
The star pointed out that the industry has always been skewed in favour of white singers, frankly telling viewers that she wasn't even allowed an opinion while in the spotlight: "It’s always been in favour of the white girls. I wasn’t allowed to be upset. I wasn’t allowed to have an opinion... Do you know how that would feel to feel like you’re underneath that much scrutiny and that much judgement?"
The songwriter, who had six number one singles while with the Sugababes, also revealed that her experience has left her "fragile". "The scrutiny, the judgement, the bullying has actually left me fragile and I hate that word," the Push the Button singer said. "It’s left me questioning my own judgement and I want people to see me for me, faults and all, shadiness and all, bossiness and all and make a judgement on that, not on what they perceive me to be based on the colour of my skin."
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