Hollywood star Halle Bailey൲ says seeing a black Little Mermaid character as a child would have changꦫed her "whole life".
The singer♎ and actress, 23, is starring as mermaid Ariel in the upcoming live action remake of Disney's 1989 "The Little Mermaid" animation, and said if the 🐼cartoon had been more diverse, it would have increased her "confidence", reports 'Female First UK'.
Halle, who shot to fame as a teen pop star as one half of the duo Chloe x Halle with her older sister, told The Guardian: "I feel like, if I would have had a black mer🐻maid, that would have been insane, that would have changed my whole perspective, my whole life, my c✃onfidence, my self-worth."
She also said, as per 'ꦬFemale First UK': "You're able to see a person who looks like you, when you're young? Some people are just like, oh, it's whatever, because they've had it their whole⛄ life. It's nothing to them. But it's so important."
Halle was targeted with race hate 🐷when her role as Ariel was announced, witꦯh the hashtag #NotMyAriel trending on Twitter after her role was announced.
She said it is impossible to avoid feeling "hurt" by the backlash. "Yeah, we'r🌱e all human beings, so if we see anything negative about ourselves, of course it's going to hurt or sting a little bit, especially remarks like those. I expected it, honestly."
"I mean, yeah. The world we live in today, just being a black woman, you have a certain awareness that comes w♉ith life, in general. So I wasn't ver🔜y surprised or shocked."
She also spoke about how the attitude she adopted to face down the 🔯racism: "I think it'🎉s just the way that you respond and move, and know that inside you're worthy, and you're here for a reason."
