While promoting her latest film God’s Country, Thandiwe Newton shed tears as she recounted the pain that comes with complexities around her skin tone. It’s another reminder of how race can complicate everything.
In the interview with Associated Press, Newton broke down after revealing her internal struggle with the belief that as a result of her lighter complexion, she took away acting opportunities and love interests from darker-skinned Black women. She even admits that she initially felt she shouldn’t portray the film’s lead role as Sandra Guidry, a professor grieving the death of her mother while also fending off white hunters from entering the forest behind her home. Newton thinks her character should be relatable for anyone who’s experienced discrimination, but she admits that her question of whether she should take the role comes from being scarred by resentment that she has received from Black women with dark skin.
