Loose Women star Sunetra Sarker has previously opened up about her struggles with her appearance and accepting her heritage, recalling how she ‘wished she was white’ growing up.

Sunetra Sarker, known for her roles on ‘Brookside’ and ‘Casualty’, as well as being a panellist on Loose Women, has become an inspiration to many. Despite her success, the actress has opened up about her struggles with self-acceptance, revealing that there was a time when she used to ‘wish she was white’.

Born in Liverpool to an Indian family, Sunetra confessed in 2019: “Looking back, I regret not embracing my heritage more as a young girl. I didn’t want to be Indian, I wanted to blend in with everyone else and be as white as possible.” She went on to say: “But I wish I’d thought, ‘Wow, I’m the only brown girl in this classroom,’ because now everything I resented I see as a bonus,” reports OK!.

The actress also shared her discomfort with certain acting roles, particularly one where she was cast in a curry advert. Sunetra recounted: “The worst acting job I’ve ever had was for a cook-in curry sauce.”

The star admitted she used to ‘wish she was white’ at school ( 
Image:
David Fisher/REX/Shutterstock)

Sunetra has a close bond with her family and is now proud of her roots ( 
Image:
Instagram)
“The premise was an Indian family making a short-cut curry who are all Scousers. In make-up, the guy who was going to be playing the dad was a white guy and they were putting brown make-up on him. Surely they could have found an Indian man? There’s something really wrong with that.”

In her personal life, Sunetra parted ways with her husband Nick Corfield in September 2014 after a decade of marriage. They share a son, Noah, who is 23 years old, and got married back in August 2003.

Four years on, she exchanged vows with her partner Scott Carey in two ceremonies: one traditionally British and the other Indian, marking a day filled with laughter, friendship and living life on their own terms.

The couple have previously revealed that they live separately in their ‘modern’ marriage. “My husband and I have a modern relationship. We live separately, so it’s like teenagers going out with each other again,” Sunetra has shared.

“Scott has a base in Kent and I have a home in Bristol. Half the week our children (Scott’s kids Sam, 17, and Poppy, 14, and her son Noah, 13) are with their other parents and half the week they’re with us, and we take it in turns when it comes to what house we’re staying at.”

She further added: “It’s a lot of travel and juggling, but this means nobody is deprived of seeing anyone and that’s crucial. And it makes us miss each other too, which is lovely.”