Slumdog actress Freida Pinto claims L'oreal lightened her skin for ad

Freida Pinto has accused a major beauty company of lightening her skin. Photo / Getty Images

With her stunning looks and star credentials, Freida Pinto would be the perfect choice to represent any cosmetics company.

But not L'Oreal, the actress has suggested, as she claims it digitally altered her skin to make it appear lighter in adverts.

The Indian star, 34, was working on a L'Oreal Paris eyeshadow ad in 2011 when she claims she was "sure" that her skin had been lightened.

Photo / L'oreal

Such was her fury, she says she then demanded to see shots before they were published.

L'Oreal denied that her skin had been lightened amid rumours at the time.

But she says: "I'm sure they did because that's not the colour of my skin you saw in a few of the campaigns. I said to my agent, I'd like to see the pictures before, and I would like to be able to question them on colour correction."

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A little #tbt on this rainy LA day.... dreaming of my epic India trip and the stunning view of the Taj Mahal from @oberoiamarvilas @oberoihotels. Check out my story for the view. . 📸: @coryt

A post shared by Freida Pinto (@freidapinto) on Jan 17, 2019 at 1:09pm PST

The actress, who rose to fame in the 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire, signed up to be the face of L'Oreal in 2009 and claims she refused to endorse skin-lightening products.

"All the brands have a skin-lightening range in India and I made them put it in my contract that I would not touch that with a barge pole," she told The Guardian.

In 2011, L'Oreal said: "It is categorically untrue that L'Oreal Paris altered Miss Pinto's skin tone."