The singer admitted she felt like the least popular girl in the group.
Have you ever felt like the odd man out in your friend group? Or like everyone around you was more popular and fit in just so much easier than you? It’s a sinking feeling a lot of us can relate to — and even stars as fabulous as Leigh-Anne Pinnock have gone through it.
In a new interview, the Little Mix singer admitted that in the early days of the girl group, she felt like the least popular member compared to her bandmates.
“During the first couple of years of being in the band, I did feel invisible,” she told ASOS. “I remember crying to my manager regularly, I just couldn’t seem to find my place and didn’t know why.”
“I didn’t feel like I had as many fans as the other girls,” she added. “It was a strange feeling. I never thought that it was because I was the darkest member of the band. I felt overlooked. So I did everything to make myself more noticed, convinced I wasn’t good enough.”
Eventually, Leigh said she was told she would have to work twice as hard as the other girls, just because she was “the black girl” in the band. That’s when she started putting together the pieces.
“Now I don’t feel alone because I’ve seen lots of women speak out about this,” she said. “I know there are girls of color out there who have felt the same as me. We have a massive problem with racism which is built into our society. It’s scary. But the more people that speak out, the more change we can start to make.”
We applaud Leigh for so bravely opening up about a struggle so many of us go through. On her Instagram, she added that it feels amazing to speak out.
“I have never spoken out about the way I felt in the band and now I have I feel like a massive weight has been lifted. I’m not alone and I’m just happy to be able to use my platform to speak up on these issues,” she wrote.
“We are all EQUAL regardless… we have to speak up!”