British-born Nollywood actress, Beverly Naya, recently shared her experiences of being bullied during her childhood in an interview with Chude Jideonwo.
According to her, she was teased for her crooked teeth and eczema and often referred to with hurtful names. Despite this, Beverly found her confidence at 16 when her skin cleared and she got braces.
However, her newfound confidence led to even more bullying, including physical attacks that resulted in a black eye and a chipped tooth. Beverly reflects on how despite feeling beautiful for the first time in her life, she still couldn’t escape the bullying.
She said “In my formative years, I was always getting bullied for one thing or the other and so 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 said, I was not a cute kid.
“I had crooked teeth, and eczema, I 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 and 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, because 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.”
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