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Kelly Rowland on ‘always’ being compared to Destiny’s Child members: ‘I felt it’

“I remember once somebody came up to me one time and they were like, ‘Where’s the pretty one?’” the singer recalled.

Kelly Rowland might be comfortable in her own skin now, but there was a time when she couldn't help but feel hurt when people would compare her to other women.

For instance, in the early days of Destiny's Child, people often pitted the singer against her bandmates Beyoncé Knowles and Michelle Williams — and it didn't feel great.

“In the earlier time, it was a lot of colorism, too. It was the light-skinned girl against the dark-skinned girl,” she told Hoda Kotb on Tuesday while discussing Bella Hadid's recent comments to Vogue about comparing herself to her sister Gigi Hadid.

The 41-year-old went on to recall one particular incident.

"I remember once somebody came up to me one time and they were like, 'Where's the pretty one?'" she said. "And I was like, 'Well, I don't know what that means.' Cuz [Tina Knowles, Beyoncé's mother] is telling me and my momma's telling me I'm pretty."

Rowland then spoke with someone who "broke it down" for her and explained that the beauty standards for lighter-skinned women and darker-skinned women were different.

"I never understood that. And I was like, 'That had nothing to do with me. That that was that person and the way they felt about themselves," she said.

Even though Rowland has perspective on the situation now, Hoda couldn't help but wonder how it felt for her at the time.

"We know that now, but in that moment that had to be a huge ouch," she said.

"I felt it because I'm a proud chocolate girl. But then in that moment, it was like something to be shielded," she said.

The singer said that Tina Knowles was always in her corner, teaching her to love herself. Knowles was adamant about having Black art and statues at home so the members of Destiny’s Child so they could see themselves in art.

“That’s why I do the same. I have Black art all over the house so my kids can see themselves in this art and I'm grateful for these artists," Rowland said.

It's something Hoda could relate to as well, and she said she's trying to teach her daughters that everyone is beautiful, no matter what their skin color is.

"I'm always trying to say, 'We're all colors. Brown is beautiful, all shades of brown,'" she told Rowland.

"And it would be boring if it were all the same," she replied.