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Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik revealed his wife Indian tennis player Sania Mirza's mother made her up her apple intake during her pregnancy to ensure their baby would turn out fair-skinned.

The cricketer appeared on Nida Yasir's morning show Shan-e-Suhoor alongside actor Ushna Shah on April 6. The trio discussed a range of topics in the sehri time show and at one point, Shah's recent post about netizens shaming her for the colour of her hands became the topic of discussion. This led to the focus shifting to society's perception of beauty hinging on fair skin.

"My mother-in-law made my wife eat a lot of apples," shared Malik. "They say that [by doing so] the child ends up being fair skinned."

"But your son is fair," Shah interjected. "Very fair. So it worked," laughed Malik.

Shah didn't let the exchange fade to nothing, though. She asserted that dark skin is beautiful and pointed out the absurdity in deeming fair skin the ultimate beauty standard. "I think tall, dark and handsome is a great thing. My crush growing up was [American professional basketball player] Kobe Bryant who's a Black man. So I don't understand this obsession. There are so many beautiful women in our industry [who have a darker complexion]."

The Parizaad actor shared a personal anecdote about an uncle from her father's side of the family — who are of Persian descent — calling her only 60 per cent beautiful because she's not as fair as them. The actor owned her skin colour and pronounced it beautiful, saying she "loves her tanned skin."

Shah is not the only one standing tall against the colourism rampant in our society — model Mushk Kaleem also spoke out against it in 2019, refusing to whiten herself for shoots and owning her dusky skin. "No, I'm not a pearlescent white-skinned girl, I'm dusky and bronze. To all the clients who book me for shoots and then expect me to douse myself in lighter makeup to make me look 'acceptable for lawn', I'd rather you not book me at all," she wrote.

It is good to see public figures with influence speak out against outdated beauty standards hailing from a colonial past. Gone are the days of Fair and Lovely — all shades are lovely. It is 2022, it's about time we realise there is no formula to beauty — it comes from owning who you are and being exactly that.