Lupita Nyong'o covers the March issue of Marie Claire [1] and looks downright jaw-dropping in the accompanying editorial. Clad in floaty looks from Balmain, Givenchy, Gucci, and more, the 35-year-old Oscar winner is the definition of "wearing the clothes, and not letting the clothes wear you."
After celebrating the massive success of Black Panther [2] — which brought in over $1 billion and is the first superhero movie [3] to be nominated for an Academy Award — Lupita is gearing up to terrify us in the upcoming Jordan Peele thriller Us [4], which hits theaters on March 15. Of working with the Get Out director, Lupita said, "He asked me, 'What is your process as an actor? What do you need from a director?' And I just started to cry. I was like, 'I've never been asked that before.' I could just tell in that question was a man who understood what it meant to be an actor." Read more from Lupita, who also opened up about self-care, her father, and the current political climate, then check out her stunning photo shoot ahead.
- On how she treated herself after the success of Black Panther [5]: "I went on a 10-day silent retreat. It was a gift. I did it for my birthday."
- On what she hopes to provide with her first children's book, Sulwe, which is due out this year: "In no way do I imagine a child will read this and never have a problem with the world discriminating against their skin or themselves discriminating again their skin. But at least you have a foundation. You have something that reminds you that you are enough."
- On the support from her father, Kenyan politician Peter Nyong'o Sr. [6]: "It makes a huge difference to have a father who champions you. My dad was a feminist before it was cool for men to be feminists — his father too in many ways."
- On not becoming passive in our current political climate: "Right now it's a very, very polarizing environment. The pendulum has swung to the nth degree. But it's important that we still find vigor when things are not that extreme because it's in those moments when the pendulum is just swinging side to side that the most damage can be done. That's when you get passive, when things aren't that bad. Before you know it, things are terrible again, because we fell asleep at the wheel."
