Rihanna’s doppelgänger has gone viral and her name is Renee Kujur — a model from Bagicha, Chhattisgarh.
While she receives praise for her stunning good looks now, this wasn’t always the case for Kujur. When she was 3 years old, Kujur participated in a school competition dressed as a fairy only to have someone shout, "Look, a black fairy!" and have the audience burst into laughter. A humiliated Kujur left the stage in tears.
As she got older, Kujur was constantly rejected due her skin tone and what some may consider "unconventional features," which left her feeling inadequate. Kujur was demeaned when she was told that in order to get work, she would have to sleep around.
"They told me all models are into prostitution. I won’t become a model unless I pleased clients. Being dark had already killed my chances," shared the model with Hindustan Times.
Once she entered the modeling business, the struggles continued with face-lightening makeup artists and photoshop gurus who would lighten her face before publishing their prints.
"The real challenge is to make a dark girl look good and I have done it," Kujur was told by a makeup artists right after doing her makeup. But then came her rise as Rihanna’s double.
The Rihanna comments first came from one of Kujur’s friends who wanted to photograph her without changing her skin tone, something Kujur agreed to whilst laughing off the Rihanna part. However, more of those comments came pouring in and they were definitely not wrong.
The resemblance definitely made it easier for Renee Kujur to get work — photographers would pitch Kujur by telling their clients that she resembles Queen Rih.
"No one could deny that Rihanna wasn’t beautiful. That sort of worked in my favor. Those who had called me unattractive had to take back their words," she mentioned.
Kujur acknowledges how helpful it’s been to look like Rihanna and would like to thank Ms. Fenty, "With such deep rooted prejudice in people’s mind, it would have been very tough to get work. The Rihanna factor turned out to be a blessing. Rihanna has already convinced people that she is sexy and beautiful and the West is crazy about her. If I resemble her, how can I be unattractive? That’s how our mind works. I don’t know where I would have landed without Rihanna," she stated.
Kujur has even made her Instagram handle @badgirlrene — so good isn’t it? Check out her video below:
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