How Lupita Nyong'o Refused to Believe that Dark Skin is “Unacceptable”
Photo: Tom Munro/Glamour.
Long before Lupita Nyong’o became a global superstar and beauty icon, she was a girl growing up in Kenya. Back then, as she reveals in Glamour’s December issue, she repeatedly heard the message that dark skin like hers was unattractive. “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,” she says. “Africa is no exception.”
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In the interview, Nyong’o describes how her second-grade teacher implied that her dark skin would prevent her from eventually finding a husband. “I was mortified,” she recalls. Mass media also didn’t help matters. “I remember seeing a commercial where a woman goes for an interview and doesn’t get the job,” Nyong’o says. “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.”
Nyong’o at the 2014 Screen Actors Guild Awards, where she won an award for her turn in 12 Years A Slave. Photo: Jeffrey Mayer/Getty Images.
Fortunately, the Nyong’o family didn’t feel the same way, and Lupita’s parents promoted a stronger definition of beauty. “My mother taught me that there are more valuable ways to achieve beauty than just through your external features,” Nyong’o says. “She was focused on compassion and respect, and those are the things that ended up translating to me as beauty.”
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Now, with an Oscar and a prestigious Lancôme contract—not to mention killer red-carpet looks, courtesy of her go-to makeup guy Nick Barose—Nyong’o is frequently credited with expanding the definition of beauty. And just as she once looked up to South Sudanese model Alek Wek, Nyong’o is inspiring other women to see themselves as beautiful. “I’ve heard people talk about images in popular culture changing, and that makes me feel great,” she tells Glamour. “Because it means that the little girl I was, once upon a time, has an image to instill in her that she is beautiful, that she is worthy.”
