The iREP documentary film festival has been postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic. thelagosreview.ng was at last year’s festival where Beverly Naya’s poignant documentary, Skin, was screened. Skin won the Best Documentary statuette at AMVCA 2020. We bring you our take on Skin, especially Bobrisky’s interview segment.
Bobrisky, the cross dressing heavily bleached Barbie has said he regrets changing his complexion.
Speaking in a segment of actress Beverly Naya’s documentary, Skin, which addresses the skin bleaching phenomenon as well as colourism in Nollywood, Bobrisky said “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. It is fucking stressful.”
Speaking further in the opening movie of iRep 2019, Bobrisky formerly known as Idris said he began to tone his skin because he was eager to escape poverty and become a celebrity but according to him “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 4 or 3. It depends.”
Bobrisky also shared his insights on why people bleach. According to him it all 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.”
But what does he think about his looks now?
Bobrisky said despite the stress, he prefers himself as Bobrisky compared to his old life as black-skinned Idris. “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.”
