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AFI FEST 2019 Presented By Audi – Opening Night Gala - "Queen & Slim"

Source: Michael Kovac / Getty

Jodie Smith’s radiant brown skin made her the perfect woman to play Queen in Lena Waithe’s Queen & Slim. But her chocolate complexion wasn’t always valued. In a candid and detailed post on Instagram, the rising actress revealed her struggle with accepting herself.

Like many dark skin women, Jodie revealed she hated herself and her dark skin and sought other people’s approval.

“I remember how badly I hated myself and hated the dark skin that made people call me ugly,” he wrote. “How I turned my helplessness at being unable to change my outward appearance inward, by constantly cleaving away any and all parts of myself that I was told made me unacceptable to others. how I changed my voice, changed my hair, became captain of this and president of that, used my intelligence to build a wall around me, spent years in the practice of bending and shaping myself into the most acceptable form of Jodie for the people around me until there was nothing of me left but hate for a person i didn’t recognize and fear that i had become someone it was impossible to come back from…”

Jodie’s transparent post comes on the heels of Miss South Africa, Zozibini Tunzi, winning the Miss Universe pageant and using her platform to challenge Hollywood’s standards of beauty.

Jodie concluded her post with encouraging words, reflecting on how she went on to win “Most Likely To Succeed” despite trying to dim her light.

Love yourself, queens!

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‘Queen & Slim’ Star Jodie Smith Shares Emotional Journey To Accept Her Dark Skin  was originally published on hellobeautiful.com