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BLACK BEAUTY: Lupita Nyong'o at the Oscars (PA)

OSCAR-WINNING ACTRESS Lupita Nyong’o has confessed that as a young girl she wished her skin would miraculously become lighter.

Delivering an emotional speech last week while accepting her prize for best breakout performance at Essence magazine’s seventh annual Women in Hollywood luncheon, the 12 Years A Slave actress said: “I got teased and taunted about my skin.

“My one prayer to God was that I would wake up lighter skinned.

"The morning would come and I would be so excited about seeing my new skin that I would refuse to look down at myself until I was in front of the mirror because I wanted to see my face first.

"Every day I would feel the disappointment of being just as dark as the day before.”

It was not until she discovered Sudanese-British supermodel, Alek Wek that she started to believe in her own beauty.

“She was dark as night and was in all the magazines and on runways,” Nyong'o added.

“My complexion had always been an obstacle to overcome. I couldn't believe that people were embracing a woman who looked so much like me as beautiful.

"It was perplexing and I wanted to reject it because I had begun to enjoy the seduction of inadequacy. But a flower couldn't help but bloom inside of me.”