Lupita Nyong'o Accuses Grazia Of Airbrushing Her Hair To Fit “Eurocentric” Notion

10 November 2017, 16:01 | Updated: 10 November 2017, 18:00

Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o has accused Grazia magazine of editing her hair to “fit a more Eurocentric notion of what beautiful hair looks like”.

The 12 Years A Slave star posted a picture of the original photo on Instagram alongside the final November front cover, appearing to show her ponytail airbrushed out.

Alongside the image, Nyong'o wrote a lengthy message, explaining that she now "embraces her natural heritage" after years of aspiring to "light skin and straight, silky hair”.

The post has picked up more than 150,000 likes in less than 12 hours.

As I have made clear so often in the past with every fiber of my being, I embrace my natural heritage and despite having grown up thinking light skin and straight, silky hair were the standards of beauty, I now know that my dark skin and kinky, coily hair are beautiful too. Being featured on the cover of a magazine fulfills me as it is an opportunity to show other dark, kinky-haired people, and particularly our children, that they are beautiful just the way they are. I am disappointed that @graziauk invited me to be on their cover and then edited out and smoothed my hair to fit their notion of what beautiful hair looks like. Had I been consulted, I would have explained that I cannot support or condone the omission of what is my native heritage with the intention that they appreciate that there is still a very long way to go to combat the unconscious prejudice against black women's complexion, hair style and texture. #dtmh

A post shared by Lupita Nyong'o (@lupitanyongo) on Nov 9, 2017 at 6:11pm PST

In a statement issued in response to the post, Grazia "apologised unreservedly" to Nyong'o, saying it is "committed to representing diversity throughout its pages".

It added: "Grazia magazine would like to make it clear that at no point did they make any editorial request to the photographer for Lupita Nyong'o's hair to be altered on this week's cover, nor did we alter it ourselves."

Iain Dale will be leading Britain’s conversation on this story on Friday evening.