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“Beauty was not a thing that I could acquire or consume. It was something that I just had to be.”

Source: Speech at the ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood luncheon, Beverly Hills, 27 February 2014

Context Accepting a Breakthrough Performance award at ESSENCE's luncheon, she read a letter from a girl who had nearly bought skin-lightening cream and recalled wishing for lighter skin herself.

Portrait of Lupita Nyong'o
Lupita Nyong'oKenya · b. 1983
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