Actress Zoe Saldana is lashing back at critics who have slammed her appearance in 'Nina'. The biopic, which recounts the life of legendary musical polymath Nina Simone, was the subject of controversy
Actress Zoe Saldana is lashing back at critics who have slammed her appearance in 'Nina'. The biopic, which recounts the life of legendary musical polymath Nina Simone, was the subject of controversy. Zoe essays the role of the songstress who died in 2003. Central to the criticism wasn’t how Zoe acts, but how she looks. Her casting was slammed by Nina Simone’s daughter Simone Kelly, who said, “My mother was raised at a time when she was told her nose was too wide, her skin was too dark. Appearance-wise this is not the best choice.”
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Zoe Saldana's look in the film
Zoe remained mum about the uproar, but has responded to critics in a recent interview saying, “There’s no one way to be black. I’m black the way I know how to be. You have no idea who I am. I am black.
I’m raising black men. Don’t you ever think you can look at me and address me with such disdain.”
The actress added, “I never saw her (Nina) as unattractive. Nina looks like half my family! But if you think the (prosthetic) nose I wore was unattractive, then maybe you need to ask yourself, ‘What do you consider beautiful? Do you consider a thinner nose beautiful, so the wider you get, the more insulted you become?”