Lupita Nyong’o Named People Magazine’s ‘Most Beautiful’

Not too many people can disagree with the fact that Lupita Nyong’o (pictured) is beautiful both inside and out. Apparently, People Magazine agreed and announced on Wednesday that they are naming Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o its “Most Beautiful” person in the world.

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The 31-year-old “12 Years a Slave” actress, who was born in Mexico and raised in Kenya, “never dreamed” she’d be considered “Most Beautiful.”

Although the actress first equated beauty with television images of light skin and long straight hair, she said it was her mother who taught her self-love, “[My mom] always said I was beautiful.”And even when Nyong’o continued to refuse to appreciate her own beauty, her mother never gave up on her.

“My mother again would say to me, ‘You can’t eat beauty. It doesn’t feed you.’ And these words plagued and bothered me; I didn’t really understand them until finally I realized that beauty was not a thing that I could acquire or consume, it was something that I just had to be.  And what my mother meant when she said you can’t eat beauty was that you can’t rely on how you look to sustain you. What does sustain us…what is fundamentally beautiful is compassion for yourself and for those around you. That kind of beauty enflames the heart and enchants the soul.”

The stunning star told the magazine that gracing this year’s cover is “exciting and just a major, major compliment. I was happy for all the girls who would see me on [it] and feel a little more seen.”

Nyong’o, who was just signed to talent agency CAA, took last year’s awards season by storm with her flawless style and glowing complexion. She says that the best compliments she receives are “when I have been called ‘beautiful’ with not one drop of makeup on. And also before I comb my hair or put on a pretty dress.”

The actress also recently signed a lucrative contract with Lancôme Paris. Clearly, this has been Lupita’s year.

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