The ladies of ‘Orange Is The New Black’ have broken free and are gracing the cover of Essence magazine for its annual Body Issue. Via Esssence:
Uzo Aduba, Danielle Brooks, Laverne Cox, Vicky Jeudy, Adrienne C. Moore and Samira Wiley shine as they celebrate being “sexy at every size.” The ensemble cast, decked out in glam orange evening gowns for the super-fab photoshoot, sat down with writer-author Akiba Solomon to share what they cherish most about themselves.
Two-time ESSENCE cover star Laverne Cox describes her ritual of learning to love herself, no matter what: “This is intense, and it’s hard. What I’ve been doing is looking in the mirror and listing all the things I have an issue with and then saying, ‘This is beautiful.’ I just go down the list and tell myself, ‘You have to accept that this is you today.’ I make time to do this.”
“Being [my size] in this industry is so rare,” says 25-year-old stunner, Danielle Brooks, “but regular people look more like me than runway models. To show beauty in a different way really lights me up inside. That’s so cheesy, but it does.”
Emmy-winner Uzo Aduba admits it took her time to fully embrace her signature smile. “For the majority of my first 18 years, I hated my gap. My mom would tell me that in Nigeria, it’s a sign of beauty. I was like, ‘We’re in Massachusetts.'” She continues, “Today there’s not a selfie or personal photo I take where I’m not smiling wide. It sometimes feels as if I’m making up for lost smiles.”
You can pick up the July 2015 issue on Newsstands now and catch season 3 of OITNB on Netflix on June 12
