At the age of 10, she was expelled from her all-white school, and the authorities' decisions based on her appearance disrupted her family and adult life.
Laing was the subject of the 2008 biographical dramatic film Skin, directed by Anthony Fabian, which won numerous awards.
Susanna Magrietha "Sandra" Laing was born in 1955 to Susanna Margaretha "Sannie" (née Roux) (1920–2001) and Abraham Laing (1916–1988), Afrikaners in Piet Retief, a small conservative town in South Africa during the apartheid era, when laws governed officially established social castes of racial classification.
Her parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents were all white, but Sandra displayed the physiognomy of African ancestors of earlier generations, perhaps from the 18th century or more recent.
At the age of 16, Laing eloped to Swaziland with Petrus Zwane, a black South African who spoke Zulu.
Except for secret trips to see her mother when her father was out of the house, Laing was estranged from her family and struggled to survive economically.
The publicity helped Laing, her husband and family gain new housing; they now live in Leachville, new estates east of Johannesburg.