EURWEB.COM

Actor Taye Diggs, who is considered a chocolate sex symbol by many female fans, revealed that he was not always comfortable with his dark skin. Hard to believe for anyone who saw Diggs in "How Stella Got Her Groove Back."

Diggs told My Brown Baby.com that from the age of 5, he was made fun of by White kids.

"They just knew, ‘Ok, his skin is brown, my skin is White, let’s make fun of him.’ I obviously didn’t take it well," Diggs recalls.

Shift in perspective

The actor said that in high school he dealt with colorism where some schoolmates believed that light-skinned students were considered more attractive.

"And then funnily enough, it was when dark-skinned men, and this is just from my perspective, there seemed to be a shift where all of a sudden we saw Denzel Washingnton, Wesley Snipes and Tyson Beckford.

"For me, when I saw Tyson Beckford (below) hailed as this beautiful man by all people that caused a shift in my being.  And I remember literally waking up and walking the streets feeling a little bit more proud.

Shares struggles in children’s book

"And then after the movie ‘How Stella Got Her Groove Back,’ when I had my own personal moments of weakness, I just had to remind myself of all the people that really enjoyed that movie and just kind of lean on that."

He recently wrote a children’s book called "Chocolate Me!" (MacMillan) where he chronicles his personal struggles with skin color and affirms the beauty of dark chocolate skin.

Diggs, who has a two-year-old son with White actress/singer Adina Mendel, urges kids to be happy with the way God made them – no matter their skin color.