We’re serious when we ask: “where the heck was this book when we were growing up?!”. Actress Gabourey Sidibe’s new memoir ‘This Is Just My Face: Try Not To Stare’ is packed full of empowerment, body positivity, and the kind of real, raw, confidence-building messages that every young girl deserves to have at especially the most vulnerable and formative time in her life.
If you’ve been following her career since ‘Precious’, and loved her performances in ‘American Horror Story’ and of course ‘Empire’, you will no doubt already be in love with her badass personality. But it’s also the messages she has been sharing off-screen that make her the kind of badass we love. Whether it is clapping back at haters on social media, or being candid about what it took to love her own body, Gabby has risen up at a time in Hollywood where traditional standards and stereotypes around women are being shattered and challenged.
Which is why her new book is essential for every book collection. But there’s one thing better than simply buying the book – downloading the audiobook from Audible. It is the best way to immerse yourself in her story and really get to know the woman behind the words. Audible’s free 30-day trial should also be an added incentive to download this book now!
Just listening to this snippet of the audiobook will give you a taste of Gabby’s personality that you’ll get to hear:
It’s not just body image she talks about. Gabby shares her thoughts on race, rape culture and politics, some of which she talked about in an interview with Nylon Magazine recently while promoting the book. Her perspective on beauty and body image certainly reflects an intersection of some of the above issues, which is what drew us to the book.
Here are five of our fave quotes from the book we love the most, because not only do they capture her personality and confidence, but they convey the kind of empowerment we need to see more of among young women especially.
On defining beauty for herself…
1.“When I say that I’m beautiful, I don’t say it so someone will clap and think I’m brave. I’m not doing it so that someone will comment on how confident I am. I don’t say it with ego and I don’t say it defensively. I don’t say it meaning that people who look like me are better than people who look like you. I say it because I believe it. I’ve earned every centimeter of my beauty.”
On having bad body image days…
2. “I sometimes get so mad at myself. Mad at my body. I call it ‘my personal 9/11’ when I am feeling really down. My body sometimes feels like a tragedy. But I’m trying very hard to change my mind about that. This is my body. It’s going to be with me forever. For all the ways it’s failed me, it’s come through for me a million times more.”
On why she thinks black women’s hair is the most beautiful…
3. “My hair and I have been through a lot (it’s been on fire twice). There are many more hair battles to come, but I know my strength and beauty start at the roots. I’ve realized that black women have the most beautiful hair: long hair, weaves or natural; bobs, cut straight or asymmetrical; braids; dreads; Afros; shaved bald; faded with a flat top. Our hair can be anything! Choose a color, choose a texture, and our hair can do it. There’s an entire Black Woman Hair Universe of Possibilities.”
On advice to other girls battling body negativity from the world…
4. “How many psychics does it take to convince a sad little girl that she can be much more than the world is telling her she is? None. She’s got to be able to convince herself to show up for her own life.”
On the issue of losing weight…
5. “I could lose weight. That is a fact. But I am dope at any and every size. I am smart. I am funny. I am talented. I am gorgeous. I am black. I am fat. Sometimes I’m a bitch. At all times, I am a bad bitch. (The word bitch is pretty confusing, right?)”
After reading these quotes, how much more you do you want to HEAR them from Gabby herself? Download ‘This Is Just My Face: Try Not To Stare’ today and tell all the women and girls in your life to do the same. We have enough loud, negative, overwhelming messages from the world telling us to dislike and even shame our bodies. Gabby’s book is a testament to what it looks like to stand against all of that, love who you are, and stick up your proverbial middle finger to all the standards that tell us to conform.
This is a sponsored conversation written by us on behalf of Audible. The opinions and text are all ours.
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