It’s a showcase of the skills Nyong’o has demonstrated again and again in front of the camera—whether in searing dramas , spine-tingling horrors , or badass superhero flicks . But as Nyong’o discusses candidly on this week’s Little Gold Men , her journey to this moment hasn’t been easy. After winning an Oscar a decade ago for her debut feature film role in 12 Years a Slave, Nyong’o was thrown to the Hollywood wolves—and left to navigate an industry that preferred to keep her in a small box.
It was in recovery from Day One, when I was gaining back the weight, that this happened. It would’ve been helpful to lose my voice while doing Day One. It was very scary, because we really do take our voices for granted. When I injured my voice and developed this vocal polyp, and the surgeon said that 30% of people are able to cure themselves on vocal rest, he gave me a period of time to try and cure myself. If it didn’t work out, I was going to have to have surgery.