OSCAR-WINNING actress Lupita Nyong’o has revealed she was told she would never find a husband because of her dark skin.
The Kenyan star, who rose to prominence after her performance in Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave, said a school teacher questioned whether it was possible she’d “find someone darker than you” when she was seven.
"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,” the 31-year-old told Glamour.
"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. 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.”
In March, while accepting her prize for best breakout performance at Essence magazine’s seventh annual Women in Hollywood luncheon, she told the audience that she often prayed for lighter skin as a youngster.
“My one prayer to God was that I would wake up lighter skinned,” she said.
"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.”
She picked up on this point in her Glamour interview, adding: “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."
The actress, who recently became a spokesperson for skincare giant Lancôme will be honored at the magazine's annual star-studded event on November 10 in New York City.