Many Netflix users would agree that one of the best movies to watch on the streaming service this weekend includes Nappily Ever After starring the marvelous Sanaa Lathan.
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The actress sparked conversation among Black women about the natural hair movement when she shaved off her luscious mane for both the role and her off-camera life.
While the lighthearted rom-com tackles the relationship many Black women have with their hair—Lathan noted at the New York City premiere of the series that it’s really “about falling in love with yourself.”
With a career spanning over 20 years, the New York native—who has worked with some of Hollywood’s A-list actresses—also took time to address Hollywood’s “mean-girl” atmosphere.
“Just coming up in the business, I have been treated just horribly by some women that you may know. I won’t call any names,” she said, according to ESSENCE, “but when you’re working with somebody who’s maybe a little older than you—now I’m the older one—you don’t expect to get competition, and jealousy, and weird vibes on set. And I was very hurt, very early on in my career by a couple of different women.”
She also shared that she appreciates her relationship with co-star, Lynn Whitfield, who Lathan described as a “light,” ESSENCE noted.
“You can tell that. She’s so beautiful inside and out,” she added.
Meanwhile, yes, that is Lathan’s hair that we see her taking a pair of clippers to in a scene that was filmed early in production.
“Because I helped develop the script, at first I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll just get a really expensive prosthetic,'” she tells elle.com. “And then, the more I started working on the character, the more I thought, ‘I have to really do it.’ Because if I didn’t do it as the actress, it’s in a way undercutting the message of the movie.”
Nappily Ever After is available on Netflix to binge!
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