Normani Kordei recalls being bullied: 'It was really ugly'

May 9 (UPI) -- Normani Kordei is opening up about her "ugly" experience with bullying.

The 20-year-old Fifth Harmony singer discussed on Monday's episode of Dancing with the Stars how she was cyberbullied after an interview was taken out of context.

"The piece is so symbolic of times that I've felt helpless and desperate," Kordei said of her contemporary performance with Val Chmerkovskiy to "Freedom," according to People.

"I got bullied terribly on social media. I did an interview. It was taken out of context completely," she explained. "People were calling me the n-word. It was really ugly ... They actually made images of me being whipped, beaten, hung.

"I shouldn't want to change the color of my skin or texture of my hair or the fact that I'm a woman," the star asserted. "At the end of the day I have to be me. I want to be able to look in the mirror and say, 'I'm proud of that person and I love who you are.'"

Kordei and Chmerkovskiy scored a perfect 40 out of 40 with their dance.

The singer quit Twitter in August after fans attacked her online for a perceived slight against then-bandmate Camila Cabello.

"I've been racially cyber bullied with tweets and pictures so horrific and racially charged that I can't subject myself any longer to the hate," she wrote Aug. 6.

"I want to take this moment to say love goes much further than hate in this world," the star added. "I have nothing but love for everyone, even my haters and I hope I can lead by example."