Masaba Gupta Opens Up About Facing Racial Discrimination: “You Think You Outgrow It But You Don’t”

Celebrated designer-actor Masaba Gupta recently spoke about facing racial discrimination during her growing-up years. In an interview, Gupta said that the colour of her skin made things extremely tough for her during her time at school.

Gupta is the daughter of veteran actress Neena Gupta and West Indian cricketer Vivian Richards and was born out of wedlock. Besides racism, Gupta also opened up about “being called a b*stard child a lot” during her childhood. She said, “Lots of boys in my school will ask ‘is she the ba**ard?’ I didn’t understand what it meant and I went and asked my mother when I was young and she explained it to me by the book." Gupta also recalled that her mother warned her to be "prepared to get more of this.”

Also Read: Neena And Masaba Gupta On Their Relationship And Experiences On The Set Of Masaba Masaba

Masaba Gupta Opens Up About Facing Racism

In the interview, cited by Hindustan Times, Gupta admitted that the reactions of friends and acquaintances affected her the most. She said, “A friend of mine brought up the colour of my skin every time I asked her about what to wear, what subject to study or what sport I should play. I thought it was bizarre.” Furthermore, she recalled how, during her tennis-playing days, the boys in her class would open her bag, take out her underwear, and toss it around, besides shaming her for being a "bigger girl". Gupta said, "They would be like ‘is it all black inside from the colour of her skin." She also opined that it is tough to overcome such traumatic childhood instances: “You think you outgrow it but you don’t.”

Notably, the Masaba Masaba star also wrote about her Indian-Caribbean identity in a recent Instagram post shared after Kamala Harris was elected as the vice president-elect of the United States. Gupta’s post read, “You know when i was little & started to understand more about my ethnicity... I thought I was the only one of my kind … And then my world opened up, I travelled and on a trip to Antigua I discovered so many more of my kind … I felt a little less alone in my constant fight to understand racism-it was such a big word.”

Also Read: Designer Masaba Gupta Opens Up About Going For Therapy

 

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Tarini Gandhiok is an intern with SheThePeople.TV