Yahoo Sports Tia Mowry says being rejected by a popular teen magazine in the '90s because she was Black 'still affects' her
A teary-eyed Tia Mowry got up close and personal with Entertainment Tonight for the season 3 premiere of its Unfiltered series.
In it, Mowry recalls a time, in the mid ’90s, when she and her twin, Tamera — co-stars of the sitcom Sister, Sister, which ran from 1994-1999 — were rejected by a popular teen magazine due to the color of their skin. "We were told that we couldn't be on the cover of the magazine because we were Black, and we would not sell." She added that was despite the show beating Friends in TV ratings at the time, and then broke down, admitting, "as an adult," it still hurts.
Sister, Sister is a show about twins who were separated at birth only to be reunited 14 years later at a shopping mall. It ran for six seasons and featured a long list of celebrity guest appearances.
Though the Mowry twins got their early start by making Billboard’s Hot 100, both went on to pursue successful careers in acting, starring in multiple Disney movies, providing voice overs and taking on countless roles throughout television. Last year, Tia appeared in a Netflix sitcom called Family Reunion, and in July, Tamera made headlines after deciding to leave The Real.
When The Shade Room posted a clip from Unfiltered with Tia’s claim, fans in the comments began to speculate that the discriminatory magazine must have been Seventeen Magazine, with some users tagging them to demand a response to the allegations. Mowry never says which publication it was that turned them down, only that it was “very popular” and “a teenage magazine.” In addition to Seventeen, other magazines geared toward that demographic at the time included Sassy Magazine and YM Magazine. Yahoo Lifestyle reached out to Seventeen, but did not receive an immediate response.
Tia added, “It still affects me, how someone could demean your value because of the color of your skin, and I will never forget that.”
Read more from Yahoo Life:
Want daily wellness, lifestyle and parenting news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here for Yahoo Life’s newsletter.
