Skai Jackson Recalls Pushback From Disney To Wear Braids & Her Natural Hair, Says She Had To Be ‘Very Strong’ About What She Wanted

Skai Jackson

Skai Jackson Recalls Pushback From Disney To Wear Braids & Her Natural Hair, Says She Had To Be ‘Very Strong’ About What She Wanted

#SkaiJackson learned early on how to stand her ground.

The former #Disney child star recently told Justin LaBoy she had to fight a little behind the scenes to wear her natural hair and braids while working with the media giant. Skai, now 24, famously played Zuri Ross on Jessie from 2011 to 2015 and later reprised the role on Bunk’d through 2018. She said she was always big on showing up as herself, explaining it was important for young girls to see natural hair on screen. While she noted there was a talented hairstylist on set, she felt they didn’t fully understand her hair, eventually leading to someone new being brought in who could better work with her texture.

And the fight didn’t stop there. Skai said when #Bunkd started, she had to advocate for herself again, this time so her character could wear braids at camp. According to her, execs were hesitant and initially only approved the look for one episode, but she wasn’t going for that. “I’m not taking them out… I’m at camp the whole time, I’m going to wear braids,” she recalled. Despite the hurdles, Skai made it clear she still had a positive experience overall; she just had to be “very strong” about what she wanted.

Video: @respectfullyjustin