Lizzie McGuire's Lalaine Vergara-Paras Exposed The Shady Side Of Her Time On Disney

Children of the late 1990s and early 2000s who've wondered what happened to former Disney Channel star Lalaine Vergara-Paras would be delighted to know that the actor, who played Miranda Sanchez on "Lizzie McGuire" for 59 episodes from 2001 to 2004, later set her sights on her music career, and has since made various television and film appearances, including in cult classics like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Easy A." On the other hand, some fans' nostalgia bubbles may burst after learning Vergara-Paras once exposed the sketchier side to her work as a teen star.

In a 2019 Instagram post, Vergara-Paras shared a photo of herself dressed as a flapper on her now-private page. Along with the picture, the actor indicated a far deeper reason for why she shared it in the caption. "Most of my life growing up I was forced to look as 'white' as possible," she said (via Us Weekly). "These days I struggle to find photos where I look as ethnic as possible."

Lalaine Vergara-Paras was not the only member of the "Lizzie McGuire" cast who noticed her blatant whitewashing on set. In her Instagram post's comments, per Us Weekly, her co-star Clayton Snyder backed up his former castmate. "You were the first person to open my eyes to the role of race in casting," he told his co-star. Snyder pointed out Vergara-Paras' professional use of a mononym, "Lalaine," which he attributed to instances of racism she's faced in the entertainment industry. "When I asked why you didn't use your last name," he began, "Said it was too Hispanic. Made me sad."

Vergara-Paras is not the only Disney Channel star who has come forward with stories of the racial discrimination and colorism they experienced while working for the network. In 2015, "That's So Raven" star Raven-Symoné described in the documentary "Light Girls" how she used to have to tan three to four times weekly to make her skin tone darker for her show. However, Symoné, who once notably walked off set of her show's spinoff "Raven's Home" with her entire cast, also encountered colorism when a member of the lighting crew told her that her complexion was too dark. "He goes, 'Raven, I need you to stop tanning,'" she said in "Light Girls," per HuffPost. "'You're getting too dark, and we have to re-light the whole entire show.' I was like, 'Sorry. I was just trying to be pretty.'"