Actress Zoe Saldana said that she regrets playing the role of late music icon Nina Simone in the 2016 biopic. The role had invited criticism from Simone’s fans and family as the actor had used skin-darkening makeup, a prosthetic nose, and fake teeth in order to play the character.

“I should have never played Nina. I’m so sorry. I know better today and I’m never going to do that again. She’s one of our giants and someone else should step up. Somebody else should tell her story,” she said in an interview with Steven Canals, creator of TV show ‘Pose.’

Stating that Nina deserved better, Zoe said that she should have done everything in her power to cast a Black woman to play “an exceptionally perfect Black woman.”

After allegations of blackface, Saldana had previously defended the role, saying: “I’m black the way I know how to be. You have no idea who I am. I am black. I’m raising black men. Don’t you ever think you can look at me and address me with such disdain.”

Back then, Nina Simone’s estate had responded to Saldana via a Tweet. “Please take Nina’s name out your mouth. For the rest of your life,” the Tweet read

‘It’s growing, it’s painful,’ said Saldana in her apology.