Andre Gray says he was “embarrassed, ashamed and disappointed” over an old derogatory tweet about black women, as the topic resurfaces in a documentary.

His fiancé Leigh-Anne Pinnock opened up for the first time over the controversial tweet from the Watford forward, in her upcoming BBC documentary ‘Leigh-Anne: Colourism and Race’.

The Little Mix singer was not dating Gray when he tweeted the colourist tweet in 2012, but says she “felt sick” after he was called out on the tweets in 2016.

Colourism itself is a historic issue of prejudice or discrimination to darker skin tones over lighter skin tones.

And Gray previously admitted fault to the tweet that read: “Black girls with red lip stick is like burnt toast with jam on it #leaaaaveityeahhhhh.”

Another controversial tweet, although unrelated to the colourism topic, read: “Is it me or are there gays everywhere? #Burn #Die #Makesmesick.”

At the time, Gray apologised but was charged by the Football Association for the tweets, fined £25,000 and banned from four matches with his former team Burnley.

According to The Sun, the Little Mix singer says: “I will never know what it feels like to be a dark-skinned woman, but seeing those tweets really made me feel a bit sick.

“I was really upset because I was just like ‘who is this person? This is horrible’.

“That wasn’t the person I knew. When they surfaced my heart sank. Because I was like, ‘that is not the person I met. It sounds like a child, like a silly child.”

Gray also made an appearance in the documentary, as he says: “You become a product of your environment.

“Whatever you were around every day and you’re not educated on it or exposed to why it’s wrong, it kinds of sticks. There’s no excuse at all.

“When it all came out, obviously I was embarrassed, ashamed and disappointed.

“I’ve made that mistake and I’ve learnt and I’ve educated myself and grew up to understand how offensive and wrong it was.”

Andre Gray says he grew up to understand how offensive and wrong his attitude was (Picture: PA)

Andre Gray says he grew up to understand how offensive and wrong his attitude was (Picture: PA)

He continued to say that part of the issue could come from “self-hate” stemming from his Jamaican heritage.

He said: “It happens still, people don’t want to be dark-skinned in Jamaica a lot of the time.

“There’s a lot of bleaching and whatever going on and it’s cool to be lighter.

“You pick up on these things as well, maybe it was easy for a light-skinned person like myself to joke about it.”

In February this year, the Watford player stood up for his fiancé when she was caught up in a online debate whether Leigh-Anne – as a mixed-race, light skin woman – should represent the colourism topic on tv over someone of darker skin.

The members of Little Mix, (left to right) Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall and Perrie Edwards (Photo: PA)

The members of Little Mix, (left to right) Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall and Perrie Edwards (Photo: PA)

After a Twitter user questioned Leigh-Anne’s documentary by bringing up his old colourist tweet, Gray admitted that his past attitudes were “part of the problem.”

He responded: “Yes that was me! Never hid from it, I was part of the problem of this whole issue but this is not the argument, it’s about people tryna bring my fiancé into s**t for sharing her experience on race and using her platform.”

In another tweet, Gray said he “educated” himself because he was not educated on “any matter of race” while growing up. He also admitted his experiences to race is different to those of a darker skinned person, and says he “grew up and learnt” about his light skinned privilege.

In 2016, Gray was slammed for his tweets, where he assured people he is a “completely different man” to who he is today.

The one-hour documentary will air on BBC One on May 13 at 9PM, and can also be streamed via BBC Three online from BBC iPlayer from May 13 at 6am.