Lauren Jauregui Opens Up About Being a 'Fair-Skinned' Latina

Lauren Jauregui is proud of her Cuban heritage, and wary of people telling her she isn’t Latina enough because of her appearance.

“I’ve had to deal with not being white enough for white people and not being Latin enough for Latin people,” she explained to Entertainment Tonight.

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“I’m very fair-skinned with light eyes. At first glance, almost everyone assumes I am purely white.”

She often grapples with people “telling me what my roots are or what I am allowed to claim about myself and my own history.”

“All of us came to this country from somewhere else and I can trace my lineage back to Cuba and Spain,” Lauren continued. “All I know is that I was born and raised in Miami, Florida, to a Cuban family. I spoke Spanish before I went to school. [I] speak it with all of my family members in my household.”

Lauren has spoken out about the media saying she isn’t “Latin enough” in the past, and we applaud her for standing up for who she is.