The downside of being a brilliant actress like Lupita Nyong'o is that when you get nominated for awards – BAFTAs, Golden Globes, Oscars – you sort of have to turn up to accept them when you win. This involves an inordinate amount of primping, preening, posing and grinning.
And although she managed to get through every event this year being beautiful and humble, she’s now admitted it’s not easy becoming a bit of a darling of the season (not least coping with Jared Leto's steely-eyed gaze). 'Everyone said "brace yourself, Lupita! Keep a granola bar in that clutch of yours!" I didn't really understand what they meant, and it was only once it was past that I realised that my body had been holding on by a thread to get through this very intense experience. Nothing can prepare you for awards season.' she told Vogue, in her first cover interview for the magazine.
'The red carpet feels like a warzone, except you cannot fly or fight; you just have to stand there and take it.' After a pause, she added: 'I hope they don’t make that the big quote! Because that would be sad! Tell them not to do that!'
Don't worry, Lupita, we get you were using an analogy, but yes – it sounds intense.
She also spoke aboutthat moment she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Patsey in 12 Years A Slave, and how she has little recollection of it, saying it was 'very confusing, very numbing. I was just repeating my name in my head, so I didn’t know whether I had said my name or they had said my name! And then my little brother screamed, and time was suspended and it was just noise in my head.'
'People are still filling me in on what happened after. My mother says I cried during the speech; I don’t believe her.'
Lupita may or may not have actually been crying, but we know we certainly were…
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.