Tamera Mowry-Housley recalls the time when she and her sister were kept off the cover of a magazine because they're Black: 'I can remember that really hurting us

Actress Tamera Mowry-Housely discusses growing up in Hollywood as a biracial actress and reveals some of the racism she suffered as a teenager.

Video Transcript

TAMERA MOWRY-HOUSELY: When I started in the business, I mean, it was like there was one or two or three roles that came up. And everybody and their mother, meaning a woman of color, if it was for a woman of color were trying out for that role.

- Dad? Mom?

BOTH: That girl has my face.

TAMERA MOWRY-HOUSELY: So it started with my sister and I, Tia, watching the soaps. Our favorite was "Days of Our Lives." And I can remember living in Texas, sitting down in our living room, and watching them.

And I loved how pretty all the women looked in the sense that they looked so beautiful just sitting at home. Their hair was always done. Their makeup was always done. And there was always some crazy drama, like dun-dun-dun, happening.

And I can remember asking my mom, "How do you-- how do you get into TV like that? I want to-- I want to do that." But my mother, she did say, "I just want you to know, not only are you a woman, it's gonna be harder, but you are a Black woman. So it's gonna be double-- double hard.

So you're going to have to work extra hard. I don't want that to deter you from achieving your dreams. Never give up and work hard at it. You can achieve it." My mom said that we should try it out, go out to Los Angeles for about a month, see if this is for us. And she would actually quit her job and manage us.

My mom moved the entire family. My brother, though, once he-- he was three, four, we all moved there. My brother was the one that blew up first. We were like wait a minute, we came here for us. What is going on here?

- But your daddy said no.

- Then we have to be very sneaky.

- Uh, we?

TAMERA MOWRY-HOUSELY: It took about three years. We did commercials. We both did "Full House." My brother was on "Full House." And then once "Sister, Sister" was on, boom, our career kind of just blew up.

- (BRITISH ACCENT) My good man, I'll have you know we are the international supermodels Gemini.

TAMERA MOWRY-HOUSELY: My immediate instinct about my upbringing is that I had the most normal childhood I could have being a child in the entertainment business. My parents taught us at a very young age what we were going through, the realities of the world, but at the same time to use your voice, stand up no matter what, and work through it. I feel like as a pre-teen, a young woman growing up, you naturally have insecurities that start to arise, because I feel like women naturally compare themselves to others. But it's on a whole different level when you're reading certain magazines and you see the women on the cover of these magazines that don't look like you, don't have the body like you, don't have the hair like you do, but they are being celebrated and they are being called beautiful.

So growing up, we didn't have that. And you start to question, what's wrong with me? What's wrong with my hair? What's wrong with my body? You naturally become insecure when you don't see yourself being kind of celebrated on things that you like and that you love. Mainstream news sometimes and entertainment, the messages that they are sending, it can be dangerous when there isn't representation. It's important to see yourself in things, because then it becomes relatable.

- Well, very good for you, Mary Kate and Ashley. Oh.

- Well, you better hope Mary Kate hold me back, because Ashley's about to break you down.

TAMERA MOWRY-HOUSELY: When that magazine denied us, that's when racism really started to rear its ugly head in our lives. When you are clearly not given the opportunity when all the other variables add up that you should, that's when you go, Oh, damn. We shown A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, the entire alphabet reasons why we should be on this cover, but you're choosing to not put us on your cover because you said, and it was because you guys are Black. And they said you don't fit our demographic, literally.

And I can remember that really hurting us. I can remember crying, not understanding why someone would still do that. And not only that, why not be the first person to fight against that? I said, I'm going to use this as fuel to continue to keep going. And I'm not gonna let that individual bring me down.

Yes, I had an emotional reaction. I cried. But I turned that into fuel. So in that moment, we realized that I'm not gonna let this situation define where I am going in the future. I'm gonna rise above it. And I'm gonna plow through. I'm gonna continue fighting.

I feel very blessed to be alive now in being able to see this beautiful shift, because women of color, people of color have been very vocal about the discrepancies in pay and in opportunity and roles in Hollywood, and also the acknowledgment, being nominated for awards. I think the biggest thing, though, is my parents, from the get go, let us know, we are proud of you that you are achieving your dreams. But we're more proud of who you are as a person, your character, the way you're growing, how you treat people that can do noth-- that really can't do much for you.

I feel like that's how you can really-- especially living in Hollywood, it's like what can you do for me kind of a thing. And we learned that at a very young age. And we wanted to make sure that we weren't that way. So, I mean, what you see is what you get.