Did Meagan Good bleach her skin?! 

The beloved actress recently looked back on the wave of skin-bleaching rumors that followed her years ago, and she’s making it clear about what actually happened: she did not bleach her skin, but instead used a product from an unlicensed esthetician that was supposed to help correct a sun-damage mark on her forehead. 

During a recent appearance on “The Breakfast Club,” Good said she met the esthetician in 2019, started using the product, and quickly noticed her complexion changing in a way she did not expect. 

Good said the situation spiraled after photos of her began circulating and people accused her of lightening her skin on purpose. She described the experience as “humiliating” and said it was especially painful because she worried young Black girls might see the rumors and believe she did not love herself. 

“I start using the product and I instantly see that I’m getting lighter,” she said. “I give it a few weeks, and I look so pale and so crazy, and I go and shoot this show in New York, and … I just look white. I just look crazy. As a Black woman, I would never do that to myself, and it broke my heart to think that young Black girls would think that I did that or that I don’t like myself. Why would I do that all of a sudden at 39 years old? That’s crazy,” she shared.

The actress said the backlash forced her into a place she could not control, unlike other moments in her career when she could simply correct misinformation and move on. This time, she said, she had to sit with the speculation and accept that people believed she had done something to herself. 

“The backlash I was seeing … it was so humiliating,” she said. “In the past, when something is wrong, I’d be able to go, ‘Oh, well here’s what this is or this is not true and if you don’t like it, I don’t really care. At least you know the truth.’ I couldn’t do anything. I look crazy. I literally have to sit in this and accept that people think I did this to myself.”

In the middle of that pressure, Good said she prayed for peace about what other people thought — and eventually realized that was the lesson she had been asking for. Good said the experience ultimately changed her perspective, pushing her to choose joy instead of misery while her skin gradually returned to normal. 

“This is an answered prayer,” Good said. “You kept saying, ‘Lord, help me not care what people think. Lord help me not be so concerned with this.’ Now you don’t have a choice. You still have to live your life. You still have to have a quality of life. And if that’s what it is, are you going to be miserable and sad on the floor, or are you going to have the most joy in your life? Once I made the decision to move forward, that’s when my color started coming back.”