Veteran Nollywood actress, Beverly Naya has opened up about being bullied for being ‘ugly’ while growing up.
The actress shared her heartbreaking experience in a recent interview with media personality, Chude Jideonwo.
She mentioned that bullying broke her as a schoolgirl as she was always attacked verbally and physically by her schoolmates for her physical features even at age 16.
In her words:
“In my formative years, I was always getting bullied for one thing or the other. No no matter what school I was in, I always felt like there was always going to be something that I was going to get attacked for.
“So, when I was younger, I was an ugly duckling. I wasn’t cute. I don’t care what my mom says. I was not a cute kid. I had crooked teeth and eczema. I just didn’t look good as far as I was concerned. And as far as people around me were concerned.
“I used to get called ‘snakeskin, buck teeth, light bulb head, football legs’. Just different kinds of stuff and then I just blossomed. My skin cleared, I got braces, and I just kind of blossomed.
“And I started to kind of feel beautiful for the first time in my life around 16. I think I probably was owning it a bit too much for some people in my school. I got bullied for that and it really broke me.
“I was like ‘look, I can’t win’. When I was younger, I was getting bullied for being ugly and unattractive.
“And now I finally feel like I’m beautiful and I’m trying to own it, that’s now the problem. I’m now getting bullied for that. So, I got ganged up on and ended up with a black eye, and a chipped tooth, on the same day.”