When Instagram user @RoyalWhoopi1979 candidly shared a message to followers about not feeling pretty in her skin, she likely didn’t foresee capturing the heart of EGOT-winning actress Viola Davis.
Royal Whoopi shared a now-viral video with a long caption expressing sadness about her struggles with self-confidence.
“You guys are right. I am ugly. I’ve finally come to realize that. The only person in the world that said I was beautiful was my mother,” she said in the video, adding, “I never forget that. I was young, she said, ‘I know you think my daughter is ugly, but my daughter is beautiful.’”
In the caption of her post, Royal Whoopi reiterates that no man or woman has ever called her beautiful, only her mother.
She concludes her caption by saying, “I finally accepted. I’m not gonna say I’m gorgeous. Fabulous beautiful I’m not in that category. I’m not a beautiful black queen. I’m a joker. Do you wanna see the inbox right now I’m ugly. I’m ugly to you guys, and you guys are right.”
According to the woman, she has received direct messages from men solely to tell her she wasn’t attractive. After sharing the heartbreaking video, Viola Davis, who detailed in her memoir “Finding Me: A Memoir” her journey to embracing her own concept of beauty — one that celebrates her stunning Africentric features — offered her support.
“Sorry sis. I don’t see ugly. The only ugly I see is in the hearts of the people who called you ugly,” said the “Woman King” star. “Hurts, eh? I know. BUT….accept this: there is not another YOU. Anywhere in the world….no other lips, nose, skin, hair, voice, honesty…..You are divinely sculpted and crafted….You will move through this world, and another beautiful soul will see you. That other soul….will be you.“
Other celebrity voices like Beyoncé’s mom, Tina Knowles, actresses Octavia Spencer, Taraji P. Henson, Niecy Nash, and more joined theirs with the “Fences” star, creating a chorus of affirmation.
According to writer Ebony M. Smith, a columnist for The Harvard Crimson, her story is not an isolated one.
“Black women have been called ugly for longer than we’ve been deemed human. Black girls live in a paradoxical state where they’re too ugly to be loved, yet too sexualized to be cherished,” she said in an op-ed, adding, “When I was 12, being ugly meant people did not care to understand me or hear me.”
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