Danielle “Taystee” Brooks gave us thigh action in her latest feature in Glamour, but the 25-year-old actress takes a stroll down memory lane, exposing her thoughts on the journey to self-acceptance and growing comfortably in her skin.
Penning a piece on her personal insecurities on her weight and how acting alleviated her perception of her body, Brooks got real about the experiences that contributed to her uncertainty.
Even now, I still find ways to make light of the sadness I was in back then. When I was interviewed for a magazine recently, I joked that when my mother would ask me to go for a walk around the neighborhood, I would hide behind the house because I was lazy. But the real reason I hid was because I didn’t want the boys in the neighborhood to laugh at the fat girl walking around the cul-de-sac.
The actress also briefly spoke about her peers in the industry and not only did a little fact-checking on the average clothing size in America, but presented a question worthy of applause.
Attending the Golden Globes for the first time, I was aware that the majority of the other actresses in the audience didn’t look like me. But you see, the average woman is a size 12 to 14. Those actresses don’t look like most women. I’m not saying those actresses should gain 30 pounds, but I am posing the question, that if art is supposed to reflect life then why don’t the red carpets and magazines reflect reality?
Find out what Danielle Brooks had to say about suicide, stretch marks, and her wishes for Hollywood in her beautifully written piece for Glamour in its entirety here.