On the morena color spectrum, Wilma Doesnt falls at the very end—the darkest possible skin tone for the morena. Hers is not a light dusting of tan—rather, it’s skin closer to a deep, dark chocolate. Even in the Philippines, land of morenas, this is rare.

For decades, the Philippines has been a hotbed of colonial mentality—a paradox where the beauty standards lean towards snowy white skin, and not toward the rich brown of the majority of the population. 

What that means for Doesnt is that—in a country where those who do not meet the beauty ideal are subject to underhanded comments, unsolicited advice to whiten, and even cruel taunts—she has had to endure double, perhaps triple, all that.

Name a bad experience that a morena could possibly have, regarding her skin color, and Doesnt has probably been subject to it. “Oh yeahhhh,” the model, actress, and comedienne answers simply on an exhale, when asked if she’s ever been bullied. Doesnt has been called names, excluded from things, held back in her career, and— many, many times—made to feel terribly inadequate.  

Doesnt approaches all of Allure Philippines’ questions in a manner that is half been-there-done-that and half matter-of-fact, as if she’s already at the point where she can detach herself from her awful experiences and view them through a contemplative, almost sociological, lens. 

Sometimes, ever the commediene, she throws in a joke at her own expense and punctuates it with her signature cackle. But you can tell that she’s sat with the hurt, the frustration, and even the despair—that these experiences have carried her through the years, and that she has made peace with them, emerging stronger.

What she’s been through

The taunting began early, during her childhood years in Cavite. “I remember the first day na umiyak ako kasi tinawag akong ‘negra’ when I was young,” Doesnt shares. “Sabi sa akin ng lolo ko , ‘Bakit ka umiiyak? Eh diba totoo naman?’ Tama siya! After that, hindi na ako naapektuhan. ‘Yan talaga ako eh.”

When Doesnt began modeling in the 90s, she was a tall, willowy figure that fit the mold, but because was colored differently during the peak of skin whitening, she was greeted by barriers that she had to break down herself. 

“Hindi pa ganoong accepted ang colored women sa fashion industry,” she recalls. “When pumasok ako, parang nagbreak ako ng maraming stereotype, na kapag model ka, maputi ka, straight ang hair mo. Pwede naman pala maging maitim, at kulot ang buhok. Maganda rin naman pala.”

Later on, after joining showbiz, Doesnt would find herself incredibly limited in the range of roles offered to her, discovering that any lead role was automatically out of her reach. “Ganoon naman mentality ng Pinoy,” she explains. “Kung maputi ka, dapat ikaw ‘yung Mama Mary, dapat ikaw yung prinsesa, ikaw yung bida kasi maputi ka. Sa pagkagaya ko na colored, pampadami kami, pang-character role, pang-add on, pandagdag ng kulay sa mga teleserye. Minsan nakakasama ng loob.”

It’s a widely accepted, if possibly unspoken, truth—not just in the insider circles of show business, but with the viewing public. She also points out that she never bagged an endorsement because of her skin tone—except for an incident where she was offered a whitening product endorsement deal, which she turned down. 

“I remember it was during my younger years,” she recalls of the offer. “Sabi nila, ‘Name your price!’ And I said no, because I don’t want my children to think na dahil morena ka, kailangan mong i-alter [to be considered beautiful]. Ayoko ibigay sa mindset ng mga kabataan na kung dark-skinned ka, hindi ka beautiful. That’s not true.”

If you get right down to the root of all the difficulties in her career, it seems she has faced all these roadblocks because, for years, Filipinos did not want to look like her. 

They have told her she is pretty, but always with a caveat: “Alam mo, ang ganda mo sana, kaya lang ang itim mo,” which Doesn’t admits is the offhanded insult that has cut the deepest. “Nasa Pilipinas tayo—tropical country!” she exclaims. “Ang init-init, pero lahat, whitening lotion, whitening soap hinahanap! Bakit walang blackening?” she adds, resorting to humor. “Kapag ganun, tire black na lang hinahanap ko!” 

She laughs at her own dig, before turning serious. “Nakakafrustrate, kasi nagkakaroon ng definition ‘yung young generation na dapat maputi ka para maganda ka. No, that’s not true. Kahit anong kulay ka, as long as you love yourself, you respect yourself, beautiful ka.”

BJ Pascual

Standing up for herself, on her own

These kinds of experiences, attacking her very person and identity, could have broken Doesnt. But what is amazing and awe-inspiring is how she is still standing her ground, rooted even more firmly today.

“I stood up for myself,” she says. “I stood up for my color, lalo na may mga anak ako na babae. Hindi porket maitim tayo, hindi maganda.” Doesnt points out that if she hadn’t stood up for herself, who would have done so? 

“Kasi kapag hindi ko minahal sarili ko at hindi ko inembrace sarili ko, sino mageembrace sa akin?” she asks. “Nobody will embrace me if that’s the case, kasi kahit ako, I don’t believe in my color eh! It may sound cliché, but ikaw mismo, sa sarili mo, you have to start from yourself. So I did it. I came all the way from Cavite City, take it or leave it na lang,” she ends with a laugh and a fierce flick of a shoulder.

After years of battling stereotypes—breaking them—and fighting just to be seen, Doesnt can see the world today changing, and she rejoices in the fact. “I’m so happy. Kasi finally nagkakaroon na kami ng place.” She cites the darker faces she’s seen in the modeling and showbiz industries, even in the choice of local representatives to international beauty pageants. “We have to love our own color, sa fashion industry, sa commercial industry, sa movie industry,” she declares. “Tayong mga Pilipino, kulay brown tayo. We have to patronize yung mga tunay na kayumanggi. Ang wish ko ay sana ten years from now, wala nang mabubully na Pilipino.”

Photographed by BJ Pascual. Makeup: Juan Sarte. Hair: Renz Pangilinan. Fashion styling: Maica Tady of Qurator, assisted by Claire Fernando, Shark Tanael, and Bea Panganiban.

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