Bridgeton star Charithra Chandran is opening up more about colorism’s impact on her, including how it made her avoid the sun.

In an interview with Variety, she discussed how all of this influenced her growing up.

“Coming to L.A., it was a profound moment because I spent my life avoiding the sun," she said.

“I spent my whole life going outside with a hat on or being fully covered up so I didn’t tan,” Chandran said. “This is the first time in my life that I walked out and I was like, ‘I can feel it. I can tan.’ And I can feel beautiful. We’re in this position, and maybe people look up to us, don’ know. But I am on this journey with all those young women, and it’s a daily struggle for me. I hope it’s not for them, but I can only assume that it is.”

Chandran, who plays breakout character Edwina Sharma, revealed how happy she is to see Indian girls embrace every aspect of their culture.

“When you’re young and you’re an immigrant all you want to do is assimilate,” she continues. “All you want to do is fit in. And for me that meant rejecting everything that made me special, everything about my culture. I’m getting so emotional but what makes me so happy is seeing young girls embracing their culture and seeing them wearing Indian jewelry and wearing bhindis and being so proud of who they are because that wasn’t my reality.”

This isn’t the first time Chandran has disclosed her experience with colorism.

In an interview with Teen Vogue, she got candid about how colorism impacted how her family treated her growing up.

“No one let me forget that I was dark-skinned growing up. My grandma was very light-skinned. Whenever we’d go around in India, they’d always say, ‘Oh, you’d be pretty if you had your grandmother’s coloring.’ ‘Shame about the color of her skin.’ ‘She’s pretty for being dark-skinned.’ All of these comments, all the time.”