{"id":55522,"date":"2014-03-03T16:03:48","date_gmt":"2014-03-03T16:03:48","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2014-03-03T16:03:48","modified_gmt":"2014-03-03T16:03:48","slug":"lupita-nyongo-learning-love-herself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/pop-culture\/daily-whisper\/lupita-nyongo-learning-love-herself\/","title":{"rendered":"Lupita Nyong&#8217;o on Learning to Love Herself"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"body\">\n<div>\n<p>It&#39;s Lupita Nyong&#39;o&#39;s world and we&#39;re just living with it. Case in point: her win for Best Supporting Actress in&nbsp;<em>12 Years a Slave<\/em>, and the empowering speech that went along with it. (&quot;Your dreams are valid.&quot;)<\/p>\n<p>But the wise words don&#39;t stop there. Talking about beauty and learning to love her dark skin at the <em>Essence&nbsp;<\/em>Black Women in Hollywood luncheon&nbsp;this weekend, Nyong&#39;o explained how model Alek Wek helped her love her dark skin.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;As a celebrated model, she was dark as night, she was on all of the runways and in every magazine and everyone was talking about how beautiful she was,&quot; she explained. &quot;Even Oprah called her beautiful and made it a fact. My complexion had always been an obstacle to overcome and all of a sudden Oprah was telling me it wasn&#39;t. It was perplexing and I wanted to reject it because I had begun to enjoy the seduction of inadequacy.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>&quot;But a flower couldn&#39;t help but bloom inside of me,&quot; she continued. &quot;When I saw Alek, I inadvertently saw a reflection of myself that I could not deny. Now, I had a spring in my step because I felt more seen, more appreciated by the far away gatekeepers of beauty.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Lupita Nyong&#39;o, teach us how to sound so eloquent. Also, thank you for standing up against the warped views those gatekeepers attempt to inflict on all of us. Here&#39;s to more actresses and women like Nyong&#39;o, having the guts to open up about their experiences with distorted self images (and how to overcome them).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Her mother&#8217;s beauty tip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67426,"featured_media":78591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64593],"tags":[78819,78857],"class_list":["post-55522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-whisper","tag-sex-questions","tag-spring-2010-fashion"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lupita Nyong&#039;o on Learning to Love Herself - 29Secrets<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lupita Nyong&#039;o talks about overcoming her negative self image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lupita Nyong&#039;o on Learning to Love Herself - 29Secrets\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lupita Nyong&#039;o talks about overcoming her negative self image\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/pop-culture\/daily-whisper\/lupita-nyongo-learning-love-herself\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"29Secrets\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/29Secrets\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-03-03T16:03:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/wp-content\/uploads\/lupita.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anne T. 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