Right now, Lupita Nyong’o is considered one of the most beautiful women in the world. For some odd reason, people suddenly began to see the beauty in dark skin, and are giving her the credit she deserves for her good looks. But it wasn’t always this way.
Lupita says that she was once told that she would never find a husband because she was so dark. This started when she was a very young girl, and it stayed with her for her entire life. This led to crippling self-esteem issues for the child and she continues to grapple with them, despite her fame.
Lupita was recently named one of Glamour Magazine’s Women of the Year, with her beautiful image on the cover, so it appears that she got the last laugh. She was recently honored at an event that was filled with celebrities. She is using her platform as a chance to talk about how we must evolve our view of beauty and show respect to people of all shades, not just the lighter ones.
“European standards of beauty are something that plague the entire world — the idea that darker skin is not beautiful, that light skin is the key to success and love,” Nyong’o told Glamour Magazine during the interview. “Africa is no exception.”
She says that her experiences during childhood stayed with her for life.
“When I was in the second grade, one of my teachers said, ‘Where are you going to find a husband? How are you going to find someone darker than you?’ I was mortified, the 32-year-old actress told Glamour. “I remember seeing a commercial where a woman goes for an interview and doesn’t get the job. Then she puts a cream on her face to lighten her skin, and she gets the job! This is the message: that dark skin is unacceptable. I definitely wasn’t hearing this from my immediate family — my mother never said anything to that effect — but the voices from the television are usually much louder than the voices of your parents.”
Can you imagine that someone like Lupita would be told that she wasn’t beautiful? Fortunately, the world has changed quite a bit.
