Mixed-race ballerina, 27, defends her Cats film costume amid ‘whitewashing’ allegations

The star of the upcoming adaptation of musical Cats has hit back at allegations that the film was ‘white washing’ her.

Mixed-race ballerina Francesca Hayward, 27, plays ‘Victoria the White’ in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical adaptation and the trailer shows her with a face of white fur.

But fans accused the film of ‘white washing’ the star and believed Ms Hayward’s feline form should have been portrayed using fur to match her natural skin tone. 

Mixed-race ballerina Francesca Hayward (left), 27, plays ‘Victoria the White’ in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical adaptation and the trailer shows her frolicking with a face of white fur (right)

The Royal Ballet’s first mixed-race female principal dancer told The Sunday Times: ‘Obviously I would never have agreed to be a part of something that would change the colour of my skin had I been playing a human.

‘The bottom line is, I’m playing a cat … a cat that’s white, let’s not read into it.’

Ms Hayward also starred as one of Meghan Markle’s Vogue trailblazers this year.

On the Vogue cover Francesca is seen with her hair scrapped back, looking relaxed and wearing a white shirt and cream jacket. 

Fans accused the film of ‘white washing’ the star and believed Ms Hayward’s feline form should have been portrayed using fur to match her natural skin tone

The Royal Ballet’s first mixed-race female principal dancer told The Sunday Times: ‘The bottom line is, I’m playing a cat … a cat that’s white, let’s not read into it’

The dancer started learning ballet at three, after becoming obsessed with the Nutcracker ballet, and went on to train at a professional dance school at the age of 11 (pictured in the upcoming film)

Ms Hayward was born in Nairobi and moved to Sussex aged two to live with her British grand-parents.

The dancer started learning ballet at three, after becoming obsessed with the Nutcracker ballet, and went on to train at a professional dance school at the age of 11.

After joining the Royal ballet in 2010, after winning impressive awards such as the Young British Dancer of the Year, she went on to perform in classic ballets such as Romeo and Juliet and is now their principle dancer.

On first seeing the trailer, viewers shared their thoughts on the character’s appearance. 

One critic tweeted: ‘So how come you can clearly see this is Taylor Swift/the entire bottom half of her face is visible, but you wouldn’t know the black lead was black unless you knew her already?’

On the Vogue cover Francesca is seen with her hair scrapped back, looking relaxed and wearing a white shirt and cream jacket 

One fan tweeted: ‘So how come you can clearly see this is Taylor Swift/the entire bottom half of her face is visible, but you wouldn’t know the black lead was black unless you knew her already?’ Pictured: Taylor Swift’s character in the film

Ms Hayward was born in Nairobi and moved to Sussex aged two to live with her British grand-parents (pictured in the film)

The dancer started learning ballet at three, after becoming obsessed with the Nutcracker ballet, and went on to train at a professional dance school at the age of 11

‘She’s BLACK?!’ one user wrote, to which another replied, ‘Wow. You cannot tell. That’s deliberate and terrible.’

‘Just don’t don’t whitewash people. Even if they’re playing cats…’ another posted.

Outside of the ballet world Hayward was also known for collaborating with active wear brand Lululemon.

The film is due to be released in December and will also feature James Corden, Rebel Wilson and Taylor Swift.