Rachel Dolezal, Famous For Racial Identity Controversy, Is Unrecognizable in 48th Birthday Photo

Rachel Dolezal, who legally changed her name in 2016 to Nkechi Amare Diallo, looks different — again.

The former president of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP had her followers doing a double take after she posted then-and-now photos in celebration of her 48th birthday on November 12.

In the X (formerly Twitter) post, Dolezal shared a photo of herself as a baby alongside a current photo in which she can be seen holding a birthday cake.

“How it started in 1977, How it’s going in 2025,” she captioned the post, adding the hashtags #48years #birthday.

In the second photo, Dolezal’s signature curly hair is wavy, and her skin appears to be lighter than it once looked before.

In response to the post, X users questioned her appearance with many social media commenters referencing Dolezal’s racial identity controversy that made headlines in 2015.

“Oh… are you white again?” someone replied.

Another person, referencing her resemblance to Katy Perry, wrote, “Aren’t you dating Justin Trudeau.”

Though Dolezal changed her name nearly a decade ago, she still uses “Rachel Dolezal” on X as well as for her Instagram handle.

The In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World author rose to fame after a news reporter questioned if she was born to white parents, prompting her to walk away without answering.

Dolezal stepped down from her NAACP position on June 15, 2015. She eventually became a public school teacher in Arizona, but in February 2024, she was reportedly fired for violating the district’s social media policy by publishing sexually explicit material on OnlyFans.