Uzo Aduba, the EMMY Award winning American/Nigerian Actress along with other stars of the “Orange Is The New Black” Netflix show – Laverne Cox, Danielle Brooks, Samira Wiley, Adrienne C. Moore and Vicky Jeudy – were featured on the cover the June issue of Essence Magazine, according to Time Magazine!
To demonstrate “sexy at every size,” Essence put the stars of the hit Netflix show Orange Is the New Black on the cover, and the stars had a lot to talk about on body image.
Uzo Aduba, who is known as Crazy Eyes on the show explained how she came to love her now-iconic gap-toothed smile.
“For the majority of my first 18 years, I hated my gap,” she said. “My mom would tell me that in Nigeria, it’s a sign of beauty. I was like, ‘We’re in Massachusetts.’ Today there’s not a selfie or personal photo I take where I’m not smiling wide. It sometimes feels as if I’m making up for lost smiles.
Laverne Cox, a transgender activist and actress who plays the role of Sophia on the show, talked about how she sets aside time to actively learn to accept her body.
“This is intense, and it’s hard,” she told Essence. “What I’ve been doing is looking in the mirror and listing all the things I have an issue with and then saying, ‘This is beautiful.’ I just go down the list and tell myself, ‘You have to accept that this is you today.’ I make time to do this.”
To read more about their stories, pick up the July issue of ESSENCE, which hit newsstands on June 12!!
