Winnie Harlow has garnered attention for not only her striking beauty, but also her confidence when it comes to living with the little-known auto-immune disease, vitiligo.
The Canadian-born model, whose birth name is Chantelle Brown-Young, dominates headlines every time she posts a photo showing her patchwork-colored skin.
Still, living with the condition hasn’t always been a positive for Harlow, as she has said in interviews. She was bullied for the way she looked; school peers called her cruel nicknames such as “cow” and “zebra.” The bullying was so bad, she said, that she wanted to be homeschooled.
Harlow is the most recent celebrity to embrace her skin’s tonal differences. Michael Jackson was another celebrity who had the disease, though he only discussed it publicly a few times.
Vitiligo (pronounced vit-uh-lie-go) is an auto-immune disease that causes the skin to lose its natural color given from melanocytes. Essentially, the body attacks these color-producing cells.