Don’t change my hair! Oscar star’s anger at magazine
AN Oscar-winning actress has accused a magazine of altering a picture of her hair to fit a ‘Eurocentric notion’ of beauty.
Lupita Nyong’o, 34, who was brought up in Kenya, appears on the front of this month’s Grazia.
She said being featured on the cover ‘fulfilled her’ but she was disappointed to see that the fashion magazine had ‘smoothed’ out her hair to ‘fit their notion of what beautiful hair looks like’.
The original photograph features her natural hair, which is tied back, but this is edited out for the cover photo, which shows her with what looks like a buzz cut.
Miss Nyong’o, who won an Oscar for 12 Years a Slave in 2013, shared a picture of the cover on Twitter and told her followers: ‘Disappointed that Grazia UK edited out and smoothed my hair to fit a more Eurocentric notion of what beautiful hair looks like. #dtmh [don’t touch my hair].’
She also shared an unedited image from the photo-shoot in which her curly ponytail is visible, and insisted she had not been consulted about any alterations.
The actress, who was born in Mexico, added on Instagram: ‘As I have made clear so often in the past with every fibre of my being I embrace my natural heritage.
‘Being featured on the cover of a magazine fulfills me as it is an opportunity to show other dark, kinky-haired people, and particularly our children, that they are beautiful just the way they are ... Had I been consulted, I would have explained that I cannot support or condone the omission of what is my native heritage.’
She added that there was ‘still a very long way to go to combat the unconscious prejudice against black women’s complexion, hair style and texture’.
Her comments come after the London Evening Standard magazine apologised to Beyoncé Knowles’ sister Solange over an image of the singer which was edited to remove her braids for ‘layout purposes’.
A spokesman for Grazia UK said they had not made any requests to the photographer to alter the image and were not aware it had been altered.
She added: ‘Grazia is committed to representing diversity throughout its pages and apologises unreservedly to Lupita Nyong’o.’