Lupita Nyong'o cover the December cover of Glamour magazine for its annual Women of the Year issue. In an interview with the magazine, the Oscar-winning actress credits Oprah Winfrey as someone whom she looked up to when she was growing up.
The "12 Years a Slave" actress says, "Oprah played a big role in my understanding of what it meant to be female and to really step into your own power. I wouldn't even call her a role model; she was literally a reference point. You have the dictionary, you have the Bible, you have Oprah."
When asked how her life changed after rising to fame, Lupita replies, "This is actually a conversation I look forward to having in 10 years, when all of this is behind me and I have some real perspective on what happened-because right now I'm still adjusting. I guess I feel catapulted into a different place; I have a little whiplash."
She adds, "I did have a dream to be an actress, but I didn't think about being famous. And I haven't yet figured out how to be a celebrity; that's something I'm learning, and I wish there were a course on how to handle it. I have to be aware that my kinesphere may be larger than I want it to be."
Lupita, who reigned PEOPLE's World's Most Beautiful Woman in April, is asked if she was growing up feeling beautiful. She replies, "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. Africa is no exception."
She recalls, "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. 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," she continues, "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."
Lupita's mother was the one who helped her to get over believing it. "I come from a loving, supportive family, and my mother taught me that there are more valuable ways to achieve beauty than just through your external features," she shares, "She was focused on compassion and respect, and those are the things that ended up translating to me as beauty. Beautiful people have many advantages, but so do friendly people.... I think beauty is an expression of love."
The "12 Years a Slave" actress says, "Oprah played a big role in my understanding of what it meant to be female and to really step into your own power. I wouldn't even call her a role model; she was literally a reference point. You have the dictionary, you have the Bible, you have Oprah."
When asked how her life changed after rising to fame, Lupita replies, "This is actually a conversation I look forward to having in 10 years, when all of this is behind me and I have some real perspective on what happened-because right now I'm still adjusting. I guess I feel catapulted into a different place; I have a little whiplash."
She adds, "I did have a dream to be an actress, but I didn't think about being famous. And I haven't yet figured out how to be a celebrity; that's something I'm learning, and I wish there were a course on how to handle it. I have to be aware that my kinesphere may be larger than I want it to be."
Lupita, who reigned PEOPLE's World's Most Beautiful Woman in April, is asked if she was growing up feeling beautiful. She replies, "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. Africa is no exception."
She recalls, "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. 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," she continues, "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."
Lupita's mother was the one who helped her to get over believing it. "I come from a loving, supportive family, and my mother taught me that there are more valuable ways to achieve beauty than just through your external features," she shares, "She was focused on compassion and respect, and those are the things that ended up translating to me as beauty. Beautiful people have many advantages, but so do friendly people.... I think beauty is an expression of love."
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