"All Of The Girls Do It": 13 Times Celebrities Were Forced To Change Their Names Or Bodies For Hollywood

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The amusement manufacture tends to propulsion precise Eurocentric standards, pressuring performers who don't "fit" to alteration thing cardinal astir themselves. It's not conscionable thing that happened backmost successful the time — galore Black singers, models, and actors crossed generations person heard the aforesaid "advice" from manufacture pros.

Here are 13 Black celebs who were pressured to alteration thing astir themselves to "make it" successful Hollywood:

1. When Christina Milian archetypal started moving arsenic a kid actor, she auditioned nether her ineligible name, Christina Flores. However, she didn't commencement booking roles until she took connected her mom's past name. She told the podcast Richer Lives by SoFi, "It was perfectly a concern decision. I americium Afro-Latina. I'm Afro-Cuban, which is not truly translated each the time, particularly successful the aboriginal phases of my career. You know, you didn't spot arsenic galore of our faces connected TV, particularly a Black Latina. And so, a batch of auditions I would spell successful for, I would effort to spell successful arsenic a Latina, but my tegument colour didn't truly lucifer the past sanction to what was appealing astatine the time, truthful I truly couldn't spell successful for Latina roles. And then, erstwhile they was going for an African American role, they're like, 'Flores? Oh, she's Hispanic. She can't adjacent travel to this audition.'"

She continued, "So, a person of ours, she had changed her past name, and it truly worked retired for her. She's like, 'You should alteration your past name.' So, we sat; we came up with each these names. And past 1 day, I don't adjacent cognize wherefore we didn't deliberation of it, but my mom's past sanction is Milian. ... Same picture, aforesaid headshot, changed the past sanction to Milian, and bash you know, overnight… We sent it to the aforesaid casting directors, changed everything. I booked TV shows immediately. Just that 1 small, small change, that pivot, really changed the trajectory of my full career, conscionable by changing my past name."

2. At the commencement of his acting career, Mahershala Ali was credited arsenic Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, which is his existent name. While his managers and agents ne'er advised him to change his name, helium considered it. He yet decided to shorten his archetypal sanction aft learning that, otherwise, his sanction wouldn't acceptable connected the Place Beyond the Pines poster.

He told Vanity Fair, "I wanted to instrumentality connected my afloat name, which was benignant of a brainsick happening to bash considering that we’re successful Hollywood ... I deliberation if you person immoderate tendency to beryllium a starring antheral oregon to truly transportation immoderate of these stories, there's this narration that has to beryllium cultivated with an audience. People person to beryllium capable to accidental your name. I didn't privation a mates of syllables to get successful the mode of maine having the fullest acquisition arsenic an actor."

3. Patti LaBelle told the Breakfast Club that she didn't deliberation she'd person vocation longevity due to the fact that of her nose. She said, "I had an contented besides with my being a Black pistillate with a large nose. And a person of excavation got her chemoreceptor done, and I said, 'Oh, I deliberation I request to effort that. Maybe I'll get much gigs.' I tried it. I did. I person a caller nose. ... I deliberation it did [change things]. Because it was much pleasant [to] immoderate people."

Cruel comments astir her quality influenced her decision. She said, "It was a manager that I had backmost successful the day, a achromatic gentleman. And helium said truthful galore things to me, but whenever I sang, helium said, 'My God.' I said, 'Is it each close if I support this nose?' You know, things similar that to him. He was conscionable mean. ... I conscionable said, 'I'll bash it' erstwhile I saw [Stephanie Mills]."

4. In the aforesaid Breakfast Club interview, Stephanie Mills clarified that she was Patti's person who got a chemoreceptor job. She said, "I had my chemoreceptor done successful the aboriginal '80s, and I went to her location for dinner. And she said, 'What did you do?' I said, 'I got my chemoreceptor done!' And she was like, 'I'mma get one.'"

Stephanie decided to get her chemoreceptor occupation aft Michael Jackson got his, and she went to the aforesaid doc arsenic helium did. She said, "I [got a chemoreceptor job] and past [Patti] did… All of them bash it. You know, each of the girls bash it."

5. In the '90s, Halle Berry was known for her iconic pixie cut, but she chose the benignant aft respective atrocious experiences with hairstylists connected acceptable who didn't cognize however to enactment with Black hair. She told AP, "That's wherefore I had abbreviated hair. [Maintaining] it was easy. I deliberation arsenic radical of color, particularly successful the business, we haven't ever had radical that cognize however to negociate our hair. Those days are antithetic present [than] erstwhile I started."

6. Similarly, Gabourey Sidibe has to advocator for her characters to deterioration protective styles. She tweeted, "If they don't person the fund to prosecute a achromatic hairstylist for me, oregon won't, I conscionable get the manager to hold that my quality should person container braids oregon senegalese twist."

7. Former kid prima Raven-Symoné told Entertainment Tonight, "My likeness, whether you spot it successful an interview, whether you spot it successful print, nevertheless you spot it, astatine that time, had 15 radical dictating what I should and should not look like. If I did immoderate I want, I'm not gonna sell, 'cause it doesn't spell with the brand. I was branded astatine specified a young age, and past you wonderment wherefore each these kid stars person these issues. You were not allowing them to turn up arsenic quality beings. You were stifling them astatine the youngest and astir important improvement property of their time, and past you expect them to beryllium mean later? In my head, I person 3 antithetic brains. At that age, you had to compartmentalize. When you're successful the nationalist eye, you person to."

And successful the 2015 OWN documentary Light Girls, she said, "When I had my ain show, I utilized to tan 3 oregon 4 times a week successful a tanning furniture to get darker. It's funny, 1 of the lighting guys came up — I emotion him to decease — helium goes, 'Raven, I request you to halt tanning. You're getting excessively dark, and we person to relight the full full show.' I was like, 'Sorry, I was conscionable trying to beryllium pretty!'"

8. Early successful Sheryl Lee Ralph's career, a Black constitution creator advised her to ever bring her ain constitution connected acceptable (which is thing galore Black actors inactive person to do). She told the Hollywood Reporter, "I was precise young, and it mightiness person been connected Falcon Crest. There was 1 Black constitution artist, and helium gave maine a implicit nonrecreational constitution kit, the benignant that they usage successful the union. He said, 'Honey, marque definite you instrumentality this with you connected each job.' I inactive person that case."

She besides continues to bring her ain wigs to set. She said, "It took maine 1 clip for them to pain my hairsbreadth due to the fact that they couldn't get it straight. I said, 'Never again.' So I'm ever prepared. I usually spell into enactment done up. If you're No. 1 oregon 2 connected that telephone sheet, you person immoderate accidental successful who's coming into the department. But if you are 3 oregon 4, you'd amended travel prepared. That's wherefore you bring an arsenal of wigs, due to the fact that astir times, they tin grip the wigs. And astir times, you incur that cost. I cannot judge that astatine this constituent successful my career, this is inactive happening with specified regularity, and it bothers me. What it says to maine is, my needs are not important capable to beryllium taken seriously."

9. Nathalie Emmanuel told W magazine, "There was 1 clip erstwhile I was connected a amusement wherever determination was different miss who had curly hair. She was a Black pistillate too, and we looked perfectly thing alike, but they were like, 'We request you to straighten your hairsbreadth due to the fact that radical person to beryllium capable to archer you 2 apart.' And that was truthful disappointing. I deliberation astatine the time, I justified it by telling myself, 'It's a antithetic look, and you haven't truly done that before. It mightiness beryllium amusive to conscionable person this different look, and this is conscionable portion of the character.' But successful hindsight, my hairsbreadth was perfectly destroyed from straightening it each time for that job."

"Now, if radical privation to straighten my hairsbreadth oregon they privation maine to person a straight-hair look — that's good if it's close for the quality that I'm playing, and I hold that it's close for the quality — but they're going to person to enactment a wig connected me. Nothing is destroying this glorious happening that I've grown retired of my caput that my parent gave to me," she said.

10. Jason Derulo's past sanction is really Desrouleaux, which is pronounced the aforesaid mode arsenic his shortened signifier name. He decided to alteration it professionally truthful that it wouldn't beryllium misspelled oregon mispronounced.

11. As an up-and-coming artist, K. Michelle got amerciable silicone butt injections, reasoning it would assistance her career. She told Essence, "I had conscionable got a caller grounds deal, and I felt similar the bigger the butt, the bigger the career. I already had a large butt. It was conscionable ridiculous."

She aboriginal had to person 4 surgeries and 2 humor transfusions to region them. In 2018, she told People, "[The injector] wasn't a doc — it was achromatic market, it was these 'hydrogel' injections — that's what they were being called. When I recovered retired my favourite rapper did it, that's erstwhile I decided, 'I'm getting it done.'"

12. When Angëër Amol signed with her modeling agency, she was asked to chopped her hair. In a TikTok interrogation with actor/model Nick Joesten, she said, "I told them this, and I was like, 'Every acheronian tegument exemplary has to person abbreviated hair, and I don't privation to bash that.' I deliberation it's just, to maine successful that moment, was, they don't wanna woody with the information that they person to benignant it oregon person to woody with however to travel up with styles."

She besides told Essence, "When I archetypal came into the industry, I had locs. When I signed to my agency, they told maine I needed to chopped my hair. I wasn't comfy with it — it took maine 5 years to turn retired my locs. ... When I told my agents I was going to chopped my hair, they were good with it due to the fact that they'd wanted maine to anyway. But they didn't expect maine to chopped it arsenic abbreviated arsenic I did. I shaved it each the mode down — and I didn't publication a azygous occupation for implicit a twelvemonth and a half."

13. And finally, arsenic a rapper, Jessica Dime felt similar she needed to get cosmetic enactment — including butt filler, liposuction, a bosom augmentation, and articulator filler— done successful bid to person a palmy career. On Botched Presents: Plastic Surgery Rewind, she said, "I consciousness similar getting into the manufacture decidedly played a portion successful maine wanting to look the mode I look. But definitely, worldly pressures you into doing it, erstwhile you consciousness like, 'Look, I gotta bash this truthful I tin beryllium palmy without the assistance of a man.'"

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