Leigh-Anne Pinnock felt "invisible and replaceable" during the early days of Little Mix.
Leigh-Anne Pinnock
The 27-year-old singer found fame with the 'Woman Like Me' hitmakers - who are also comprised of Perrie Edwards, Jade Thirlwall, and Jesy Nelson - in 2011 when they won the UK talent show 'The X-Factor', but has said it took her a "long while" to become "comfortable" in her own skin, because she spent a long time believing she could easily be replaced.
She said: "I definitely feel that it's taken me a long while to completely feel comfortable in the skin that I'm in. I really did feel invisible and replaceable for a considerable amount of time within the band, but I truly believe as the years have gone on I'm beginning to own it more and more."
Leigh-Anne also says she hopes to use her platform to "raise some awareness" on racism in society, as she's "proud" of who she is.
She added: "Sadly we live in a society that is inbuilt with racism and I just hope that by speaking up on my personal experience, I can help raise some awareness on this f-ked up situation. I've always been proud of who I am but maybe for a while I forgot how special and powerful that is. Being black is powerful, being black is beautiful and I'm ready to shout it to the world!"
And since finding fame, the 'Power' singer says she hasn't had "any time to process" her success.
Speaking to Rollacoaster magazine, she said: "We didn't really have any time to process it, it was just like 'Boom!' Obviously for me, it was my dream so I loved every second of it, but the negativity and the trolling? I fought it really hard."
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