Fresh off winning an Academy Award for her stellar performance in the film 12 Years A Slave, Lupita Nyang'o is making headlines again for her candid and kind words about how she came to accept her beauty and which supermodel inspired her to love herself for who she was.

At the annual Essence Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon last week, Lupita took to the stage and spoke about her personal struggles to embrace and love her skin tone. Who knew the star struggled to accept the deep, flawless complexion that every beauty and fashion outlet has fallen in love with.

In an emotional speech, Lupita shared her struggle to love her skin when she was younger. "When I was a teenager my self-hate grew worse, as you can imagine happens with adolescence," Nyong'o said. "My mother reminded me often that she thought that I was beautiful but that was no consolation: She's my mother, of course she's supposed to think I am beautiful."

Lupita went on to talk about her internal pain as a young woman, hoping to see a fair skin version of herself every time she woke up in the morning. "I tried to negotiate with God, I told him I would stop stealing sugar cubes at night if he gave me what I wanted, I would listen to my mother's every word and never lose my school sweater again if he just made me a little lighter. But I guess God was unimpressed with my bargaining chips because He never listened."

It wasn't until seeing an image of supermodel Alek Wek, that Lupita's own self image took a positive turn towards self love and acceptance.

"A celebrated model, she was dark as night, she was on all of the runways and in every magazine and everyone was talking about how beautiful she was," Lupita said. "Even Oprah called her beautiful and that made it a fact. I couldn't believe that people were embracing a woman who looked so much like me, as beautiful."

"My complexion had always been an obstacle to overcome and all of a sudden Oprah was telling me it wasn't. It was perplexing and I wanted to reject it because I had begun to enjoy the seduction of inadequacy. But a flower couldn't help but bloom inside of me, when I saw Alek I inadvertently saw a reflection of myself that I could not deny. Now, I had a spring in my step because I felt more seen, more appreciated by the far away gatekeepers of beauty."

In a recent interview with Essence, model Alek Wek talked about Lupita's speech. "I was amazed and very humbled by Lupita's words, and I am so proud and happy that her talent was deservedly recognized with her Oscar award," she said.

 "When I first started modeling I realized I was very different from many of my colleagues, but I welcomed the opportunities my career in fashion offered me, and the support from many inspiring individuals in the fashion industry. And because of this I have always strived to use the platform I have in fashion, to champion the ideals of what is beautiful."

Watch Lupita's touching speech below.