As a teen, Nyong’o dyed her hair every color – except blonde – and even went as far as shaving her head bald. “It was very strange and very cold!” she says, laughing. “It was scary but I like to dare myself.”
“I remember a time when I too felt ‘unbeautiful,’” confessed Nyong’o. “I put on the TV and only saw pale skin, I got teased and taunted about my night-shaded skin. And my one prayer to God, the miracle worker, was that I would wake up lighter-skinned. The morning would come and I would be so excited about seeing my new skin that I would refuse to look down at myself until I was in front of a mirror because I wanted to see my fair face first. And every day I experienced the same disappointment of being just as dark as I was the day before. I tried to negotiate with God…But I guess God was unimpressed with my bargaining chips because He never listened.”
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When her self-esteem was at its lowest, Nyong’o says that Sudanese model Alek Wek was the woman who finally inspired her to be proud of who she was — on the inside and the outside. “I couldn’t believe that people were embracing a woman who looked so much like me, as beautiful,” she said. “My complexion had always been an obstacle to overcome and all of a sudden Oprah was telling me it wasn’t.”
Now she says the best compliments are “when I have been called beautiful with not one drop of makeup on,” she adds. “And also before I comb my hair or put on a pretty dress. Happiness is the most important thing.”
Lupita Nyong’o: “I Finally Believed” was originally published on blackdoctor.org
