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Tuesday, May 9, 2017 9:11am ET by  

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Normani Kordei opens up about bullying on DWTS clip

Normani Kordei did it again during last night's (May 8) episode of Dancing With the Stars.

The Fifth Harmony member managed to deliver another near perfect dance performance, alongside her partner Val Chmerkovskiy. Their contemporary dance routine was set to the song "Freedom" by Anthony Hamilton and Elayna Boynton from the Django Unchained soundtrack.

The pair's performance received their second perfect score of the season. It was designed to help Kordei, whose personal struggles with cyber bullying and racism, have often left her feeling isolated and depressed. In a behind-the-scenes clip, she admitted:

"The piece is symbolic of times that I felt helpless and desperate.

"I shouldn't want to change the color of my skin, or the texture of my hair or the fact that I am woman, I felt really alone and just like everybody hated me.

"We all want to be loved, we all want to feel accepted, but when that doesn't happen then it just breaks you." 

Over the past few weeks, even when Kordei has excelled on the dance floor, she’s ended up at the bottom of the votes. She went on to credit Chmerkovskiy for helping her become more connected to herself and not let it get to her.

Last week, the star and Chmerkovskiy earned a perfect score of 40 out of 40. This allowed them to have immunity and not have to participate in a dance-off challenge. 

The performer has also been suffering from back pain, saying:

"It’s getting better. Honestly, yeah. I can actually get up out of bed by myself now. My mom had to help me, but, yeah. My medicine is really kicking in."

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