Lupita Nyong’o: “My one prayer to God was that I would wake up lighter skinned”

Lupita Nyongo: My one prayer to God was that I would wake up lighter skinned | celebrity quotes

On how she wanted to have lighter skin:

I got teased and taunted about my skin. My one prayer to God 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 the mirror because I wanted to see my face first. Every day I would feel the disappointment of being just as dark as the day before.

On how supermodel Alek Wek made her believe in her own beauty:

She was dark as night and was in all the magazines and on runways.My complexion had always been an obstacle to overcome. I couldn’t believe that people were embracing a woman who looked so much like me as beautiful. It was perplexing and I wanted to reject it because I had begun to enjoy the seduction of inadequacy. But a flower couldn’t help but bloom inside of me. I hope that my presence on your screen and my face in magazines may lead you, young girls, on a beautiful journey. That you will feel the validation of your external beauty, but also get to the deeper business of being beautiful inside.

… says 30 year-old Lupita.

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