Tia Mowry-Hardrict Reflects On The Discrimination She And Her Sister Faced Growing Up

Tia Mowry is opening up about the discrimination she faced while working on the hit series Sister Sister. 

Tia and Tamera Mowry have been in the industry for some time, and the two have seen how the industry has changed in terms of its treatment of Black people. During an interview with ET, the 42-year-old actress reflected on how those times shaped her image of fame, beauty, and how she plans on building confidence within her children.

“To this day, I’m always telling my beautiful brown-skinned girl that she is beautiful,” Mowry-Hardrict said during her chat on Unfiltered. “And the same thing even with my son. I tell him how handsome he is, I tell him, you know, he is smart. Because I know what it feels like for someone to devalue your worth, and I don’t want my children to ever, ever, ever, feel that. And not have the strength, or the foundation, to not believe it. To believe that they are worthy.”

Mowry-Hardrict then went on to discuss how she and her sister were told that their Blackness would not sell a magazine that they dearly wanted to cover. “So my sister [Tamera] and I wanted to be on the cover of this very popular [teenage] magazine at the time,” Mowry-Hardrict explained. “We were told that we couldn’t be on the cover of the magazine because we were Black, and we would not sell.”

Despite the constant attacks against her race, Mowry-Hardrict said she never let that brainwash her into thinking her Blackness was not beautiful. “I will never forget that. I will never forget where I was,” she said. “And I wish I would have spoken up. I wish I would have said something then. I wish I would have had the courage to speak out and say that wasn’t right.” But now, she doesn’t shy away from the fact that she did have insecurities growing up. “I would feel insecure about my hair because being young and being in this business; I never saw girls like me. I never saw girls that, you know, were embracing their curls, or I never saw curly hair being portrayed as beautiful,” she explained.

It wasn’t until other shows like Sister, Sister, Girlfriends, and Moesha came around that Black girls finally got to see themselves reflected heavily on screen. And now, the amount of shows that feature Black talent on-screen are finally getting a boost. “I love that now I’m seeing images that are really embracing natural, beautiful, curly hair and just beautiful Black women in all shades — dark, light skin, brown,” she said. “Representation is important, and that really helped me, meaning me seeing those images is what helped me embrace my natural beauty.”

Mowry-Hardrict then talked about how she and her sister were marketed as a package deal and how that affected their own individuality. “If I were very honest with you, in the beginning, it was hard, and it was more about not allowing society to define who we were and are today and allowing us to evolve into the people that we really are,” she said. “Once we were able to do that, I feel very blessed that people have been able to accept who we are as individuals.” Mowry-Hardrict added that her mother was not just supportive but also one of the amazing Black women that she would turn to for inspiration and guidance. “She has beautiful dark skin, and her skin is just so smooth. She’s just the epitome of beauty.” She added that her mother is “strong,” “confident,” and a “beautiful Black woman.” “She used to always tell us, ‘Do not let this business define who you are,'” she recalled. “‘Don’t let something like that tell you who you are, and tell you what your value is. Because it’s not true.'”

Now, Mowry-Hardrict says she wants to inspire the next generation. “What matters to me is that I inspire. That I encourage. That I can bring joy to people. That is what makes me happy now,” she concludes.