In four weeks time, Kenyan A-list superstar Lupita Nyong'o and her Wakanda Forever co-stars will tower over the Hollywood fame machine after the film is released on November 11.
In a sit-down with the Hollywood Reporter as its cover star, the actress travelled back memory lane to her first major success playing Patsey in her first-ever feature film 12 Years a Slave and the complications her sudden success had on her health.
She admitted that the education system had concentrated on preparing them on how to deal with failure that she was not aptly prepared to handle the success, the never-ending press tours and paparazzi culture that comes with the Hollywood territory.
“We kept being told that it’s going to be one long, lonely, hard and fruitless journey, being an actor. You’re going to be Policewoman Number Three for a long time before you can get anywhere. They helped us to mentally prepare for failure, but they did not prepare us for success," she told the outlet.
As a result, the actress was left in panic mode that affected her well-being. She contracted fibroids and underwent a surgery.
“I was mitigating my panic at all times because extreme failure and extreme success, the body doesn’t know the difference.
"Either way, you are in distress. I’m proud of how I weathered that particular storm, but it cost me. It cost me physically. I was extremely thin. My body was ravaging itself, and I got fibroids," she added.
The Slap
Lupita, who appears on the magazine's cover in a golden high fashion pants outfit against a maroon background, also addressed, for the first time, her viral meme following the 2022 Oscar altercation between Will Smith and comedian Chris Rock.
Towards the end of March, a meme of Lupita visibly shocked at the event's development went viral with the public christening her as the supporting actor of 'The Slap'.
At the time, her fans quickly took to social media platforms hailing her for aptly capturing the emotions of the whole world at that moment.
In her latest interview, the actress noted that she had anticipated her reaction would be turned into a worldwide meme but declined to divulge any further.
"Once the moment was over, I realized, ‘Oh my God, there’s no way all this transpired and I’m not in the shot.'
“I knew as soon as it was over that I was going to be a meme. I don’t want to add any more fuel to that thing, quite frankly," she explained.
Underwater Exercise
To prepare for her role, Marvel Studios Production and Development Vice President Nate Moore noted that Lupita took upon her to prepare.
Part of her character in the film is captured under water and prior to shooting, the star lifted weights under water while holding her breath.
She filmed herself and sent the videos to the VP as well as other staffer in the Marvel Universe - the company that produces the Black Panther films.
“She would be down there holding her breath and carrying giant weights through the water. Nothing we’d asked her to do, by the way," Moore explained to the outlet.
