'The Black Panther's' Lupita Nyong'o reclaims her 'true' identity: 'I had rid myself'

Lupita Nyong'o, an Academy and Daytime Emmy Award-winning actress, recently opened up about embracing her identity again. 

In the first episode of her new podcast, Mind Your Own, Lupita got candid and talked about returning to her Kenyan accent and why it mattered to her. 

For those unaware, Lupita was born in Mexico, brought up primarily in Kenya, and has lived in the U.S. for two decades. 

The Wild Robot star revealed that she learned the American accent while studying acting at Yale School of Drama because she thought this would help her get acting jobs as there was not much demand for her African accent in Hollywood.

She said, “I made this pact with myself that I would learn how to sound American in a way that would guarantee me a career in acting because obviously I didn't know very many people in movies and television with Kenyan accents. There was just no market for that.”

The Black Panther: Wakanda Forever star further confessed that she committed to many voice lessons for the very reason, and her efforts met with success when a casting director sang praises of her new style of talking. But while it made her happy, she also felt sad because she had lost a part of herself.

"And I was at once so elated and also so crushed. I had rid myself of myself, kind of.”

Moreover, recalling her memory, the Queen of Katwe said that she informed her publicist about her decision to go back to her original accent before promoting her first big movie, 12 Years a Slave, in 2013. 

“I've decided that from tomorrow I am going to return to my original accent. 'I want to send a message that being African is enough,'" Lupita concluded by saying.

It is important to mention that the 41-year-old actor's mom supported her decision, saying, “’Your accent is representative of your life experience,’” which gave her “solace.”