Charithra Chandran's Former Pals Told Her She Was Only Cast on 'Bridgerton' Because of Her Color

justjared.com:

Charithra Chandran is opening up about some particularly cruel things her friends once said to her about her role on Bridgerton.

The 25-year-old actress, who portrays Edwina Sharma on season two of the Netflix series, shared that her pals revealed their jealously through their words. Click inside to see what they said to Charithra… In an interview with The Telegraph, Charithra explained that while many in her life were supportive, there were some friends who were not.

She said that many “assume my success is due to a diversity quota.” “I’ve even had friends say to me, ‘Oh you got that because you’re brown,’ and that really hurts,” she went on. “What’s really scary is that you can start believing it and thinking, ‘The only reason I got cast as Edwina is because they were looking for an Indian family.’” Charithra also revealed that this isn’t her first brush with colorism. “I remember strangers saying, ‘You would be pretty if you were light-skinned like your grandmother,’ and like, trying to blame my granddad for giving me my skin colour,” she said. “Being a person of color, we’re not unitary, we’re not one thing.

There are so many different communities within that umbrella term. We should be more specific about making sure we’re representing different groups of people.” She did applaud Bridgerton for embracing more diversity on the show and bringing it to the front, instead of sticking certain cultures in the background. “I think that Bridgerton has done for TV what Hamilton did for theatre,” she said. “It encouraged a totally different audience to watch period drama and romances.