Little Mix stars Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall were desperate for surgery to make their features look more "white" at the start of their careers, they reveal in unmissable documentary Leigh-Anne: Race, Pop and Power , which airs tonight.
The BBC One programme follows Leigh-Anne as she opens up on her battle against racism in the pop music world, speaking to fellow artists Alexandra Burke, Keisha Buchanan, Nao and Raye.
Leigh-Anne, who recently announced her first pregnancy with fiancé Andre Gray, has a half Bajan mother named Deborah, while her father John is half Jamaican.
In one emotional scene with Jade, whose mother is Yemeni and Egyptian and father is English, they explain the troubling effect photoshoot airbrushing had on their self image early on in their careers.
Leigh-Anne, 29, says: "Basically our whole Little Mix life was about us fitting in, and trying to fit into this perfect pop world."
Jade, 28, adds: "I remember for ages we both wanted nose jobs, which is actually insane now, it's ridiculous.
"But that stemmed from our first magazine shoot, there I was with my whole face completely photoshopped, my nose had changed.
"From that moment, I thought to be beautiful and glamorous, you had to uphold this image of looking as white as possible.
"Definitely," agrees Leigh-Anne, and the two tearfully embrace.
Leigh-Anne also recalled an experience while filming the music video for Little Mix's single Wings alongside Jade, and fellow members Perrie Edwards and Jesy Nelson who has since quit the band.
She was told by Beyonce's creative director Frank Gatson "you're the black girl, you have to work ten times harder".
Leigh-Anne also recalls devastating experiences where she realised fans responded differently to her compared to the other band members.
"We did a radio tour, we got off the plane and there were some fans waiting for us and I was the first to walk up to them," she says.
"They just walked past me and went up to the other girls, it was so weird. It was never like it was someone racially abusing me, but it was little things that happened regularly.
"All of these little feelings just built up, built up, built up - it was something I could never fully explain."
"And you can’t pretend it’s not happening, feeling invisible, feeling that people would just look past me."
She adds: "I’m in the biggest girl group in the world, I have a fiancé, we have a lovely house. It’s like, ‘What have you got to be upset about?’
"But all of that stuff doesn’t matter. All that matters is that feeling, and that feeling that just doesn’t go away. It keeps hurting and hurting. And wondering, ‘Is it my colour?’
"All these questions. Pushing myself constantly to do better. I just wanted to be on the same level and nothing I did would get me there.”
* Leigh-Anne: Racism, Pop and Power airs on BBC One at 9pm tonight, and available to watch on BBC iPlayer now
