Amandla Stenberg on How Her Girlfriend Helped Her Find Body Confidence
Amandla Stenberg may ooze confidence, but for the actress-who stars in the upcoming film The Hate U Give-loving herself is a constant work in progress.
In these exclusive outtakes from her Seventeen cover story interview, the 19-year-old explains why she's into talking to herself, how she got comfortable being who she is, and the lasting impact The Hate U Give had on her.
On how she deals with insecurity: "I fully talk to myself in the mirror. Not just when it comes to my body, but when it comes to anything. If I have anxiety about something and I can’t source where it’s coming from, I’ll get in the mirror and be like, 'OK, girl. We bout to figure this out. What’s going on?' And we talk through it-me and my reflection. I also I think being in a lesbian relationship makes it easier, because me and my girlfriend just hype up each other’s bodies. We’re like, 'You were born perfect. You are a beautiful peach. You are a flower, a gem!' I’ve been having more appreciation for my body [and seeing it as] a beautiful woman’s body. I have curves-I have slopes and valleys, mountains and crests."
On learning how to feel comfortable with her blackness: "I ended up being best friends with all my homies who were black girls. Two of the other girls in my class were my best friends, and we just stopped caring about fitting into the structure. We just did our own thing. And I also I found online communities that made me feel inspired to talk about blackness and cultural appropriation and utilize the platform that I have. And there was this really beautiful wave of self-love and artistry and creativity within the black community, and black kids on the internet. That was really critical in making me feel less alone, and helping me to realize that I was not an alien just because I was one of the only black girls at my school. By the end of high school, I had figured out how to let go of the code-switch and just do me."
On her meaningful takeaway from The Hate U Give: "There’s been a part of me that, at times-out of a place of trying to protect my hope-has become desensitized to the headlines [about police brutality]. It’s easy to see a story about it and think of it as a political event, instead of a deeply personal event in someone’s life and community, with reverberations that will be felt for a long time. I felt like in making the film I was carrying the energy of the victims who need retribution, and whose stories need to be told."
To hear more from Amandla, pick up the October/November issue of Seventeen, on newsstands September 25!
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