Amy discovers Asha's skin-lightening secret in Coronation Street
The troubled teen is putting herself in danger
Coronation Street's Asha Alahan (Tanisha Gorey) has secretly been using skin lightening products as she battles with body image issues and low self-esteem, and will be forced to confess to best friend Amy Barlow (Elle Mulvaney) when she starts to suffer worrying side-effects.
During an impromptu dance rehearsal for the school play in the Alahans' living room on Wednesday 25th September, Amy was taken aback to notice blood seeping through the arms of Asha's long-sleeve top.
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Embarrassed Asha, whose recent mood swings have been worrying dad Dev Alahan (Jimmi Harkishin), has managed to hide her addiction to the dodgy cosmetic cream for weeks. On Friday 27th September concerned Amy accuses the school girl of self-harming after seeing the blood, which leads to the shocking truth finally being exposed when Asha reveals all. Will Amy tell Dev, or at least try and help her friend?
Why has Asha started using skin lightening products?
Speaking recently about the teenager's controversial storyline recently, Gorey explained the roots of the plot: "Asha has very low self esteem. She has been struggling to get attention from boys and thinks maybe if she changes herself she'll get more of that.
"While Asha was visiting family in India over the summer, she became fixated with lightening her skin. It's very normalised over there so when she came home she thought she might as well carry on and do it here too.
"In India she's seen all the Bollywood stars she looks up to sponsoring these skin-lightening creams. Asha wants to be successful and pretty like them, so she doesn't think there's anything wrong with it."
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