If I would have had black mermaid, that have changed my whole life: Halle Bailey

Just as Halle Bailey is awaiting the release of her film The Little Mermaid, the actor said how seeing a Black Little Mermaid character as a child would have changed her life and spoke about how diversity can increase confidence.

The Little Mermaid is set to hit the theatres on Friday and is a live action adaptation of Disney's 1989 animation of the same story. Halle is cast as Ariel, the titular character.

"I feel like, if I would have had a black mermaid, that would have been insane, that would have changed my whole perspective, my whole life, my confidence, my self-worth,” Halle was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

As per a report by Female First UK, the actor added, "You're able to see a person who looks like you, when you're young? Some people are just like, oh, it's whatever, because they've had it their whole life. It's nothing to them. But it's so important." It is worth a mention that when the makers first introduced Halle as Ariel, she was target of race hate and social media trended the hashtag #NotMyAriel.

Addressing this, Halle said, "Yeah, we're all human beings, so if we see anything negative about ourselves, of course it's going to hurt or sting a little bit, especially remarks like those. I expected it, honestly. I mean, yeah. The world we live in today, just being a black woman, you have a certain awareness that comes with life, in general. So I wasn't very surprised or shocked."

The Little Mermaid will also feature Jude Akuwudike, Daveed Diggs, Javier Bardem, Jacob Tremblay, Awkwafina, Simone Ashley, Noma Dumezwani, Russell Balogh, and Jessica Alexander, among others.  Rob Marshall helmed the film with a screenplay by Jane Goldman and David Magee.