Men Called Me ‘Black Mamba’ – Lupita Nyong’o On Being Dark Skinned

Lupita Nyong’o is again getting candid about her looks and is glad she’s helping redefine the standards of beauty.

The Oscar winner has had a whirlwind year punctuated with additional laurels from the beauty sector.The newly minted style icon was dubbed People’s most beautiful woman of 2014 in April, then appointed as Lancome’s brand “ambassadress” that same month.

Though the 31-year-old warns against the “unsustainable” nature of taking on the “role of a deity,” she’s happy to help change the narrative that previously proscribed dark skin as “unacceptable.”

In the interview, Nyong’o describes how her prom date stood her up, she said;

I GOT STOOD UP AT MY PROM. HE DIDN’T SHOW UP. I USED TO BE TEASED AND TEASED. THEY CALLED ME BLACK MAMBA, AWFUL NAMES. YOU KNOW WHAT I GAINED? COMPLIMENTS NEVER GROW OLD. THEY’RE DELIGHTFUL EVERY TIME.

“WHEN I WAS IN THE SECOND GRADE” — IN KENYA, WHERE SHE SPENT THE BULK OF HER EARLY YEARS — “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!” SHE SAID. “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.”

As for what’s been dubbed “the Lupita effect,” the Yale grad and fashionista said it makes her giggle.

Men Called Me ‘Black Mamba’ – Lupita Nyong’o On Being Dark Skinned