Tyrese Gibson is loving the skin he’s in.
The “Fast and Furious” actor posted a selfie-style video of him admiring himself while he vacationed on Monday, Aug. 16. Gibson panned the camera lens across his face, giving his fans a variety of angles to look at him.
In the first Instagram story, he confessed that he “used to be so ashamed” of his skin tone. But the R&B singer has seemingly come to his senses and realized, “This is Kings and Queens Skin.” To really drive his point home, Gibson added India Arie’s song “Brown Skin” which is all about appreciating melanated skin.
Gibson carried on his encouraging rant in a later story with the same song playing in the background as he continued to show off his face. In the clip, he wrote, “Stay encouraged out there…Be grateful for every breath… God woke us up this morning to give us another shot at life.”
Fans uplifted Gibson in the comments of his post. One person said, “Darkskin men is top tier” and another wrote, “Glad he found his worth.”
This is not the first time Gibson spoke about being ashamed of his darker skin complexion. In an episode of TV One’s “Uncensored” last year, he opened up about receiving “every joke in the dark skin community ever.” He went on to explain what mean things he would hear from his peers. He said, “I was Black burnt, tarp. I was all teeth and eyes. I was blurple — Black and purple, and I just never felt attractive, ever.”
The hurtful jokes, in turn, made the now 42-year-old lose confidence and become more insecure about his appearance. “I had never felt a piece of handsome,” he said, “I had never felt a piece of being cute. I had never heard compliments throughout my childhood. I never got any attention from the ladies.”
What helped him gain more confidence about his looks was his success in the entertainment industry. He said, “after I had that moment, it did more for my confidence than you could ever imagine because it was a high that I would hope to experience for the rest of my life.”
