Viola Davis gets serious about beauty standards and why they should keep improving.
L’Oréal Paris International spokesperson who stopped traffic at its Wednesday premiere Monster She spoke to PEOPLE about beauty and sanity before her red carpet appearance – in a stunning white dress and an oversized white fluffy jacket – during the 76th annual Cannes Film Festival.
“I think beauty standards have changed,” Davis told PEOPLE in a private chat in Cannes. “I think what has changed is the idea that sanity is associated with beauty. [and] Understanding who we are is beyond male desires.”
“A really big part of my decision to be a part of L’Oreal,” the 57-year-old actress continued, “is the whole phrase ‘I’m worth it’.”
Davis explained how beauty standards once hurt her.
“What was killing me was people constantly telling me I wasn’t pretty,” she said. “[You might think] why would you be upset about that? Because beauty is connected with value and value. And I refuse to believe that I’m not worth it based on people’s kind of idea and perception of what classical beauty is,” Davis said emphatically.
She continued: “Women are now encouraged to speak a little more truth. We see this through sexual abuse, mental illness, being a burnt out mother, chasing our dreams and the hopes we have for our lives.”
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“We used to hide our pain behind perfectly applied lipsticks and polished floors. Now we don’t do that. Beyond makeup and hair, we say that’s who we are. I get it. I get it. with my daughter’s generation,” she said.
The Oscar-winning star also shared some of the lessons he passed on to his 12-year-old daughter, Genesis. She admitted it wasn’t always an easy conversation.
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“This morning I told my daughter that she needed to have a love affair with him. I told her that he really was the love of her life. ‘I love you but he’s not me, he’s not a man. day, you can’t let yourself down. You have to defend yourself. You have to come out for him.’ And it’s not just spa treatments and a glass of wine,” she laughed, referring to her daughter’s ability to take care of herself when she grows up. ” ‘It’s about showing up when someone hurts you. It’s about setting boundaries and showing up when someone oversteps it. Show it for yourself.’ Nobody taught me that. I felt it was vanity to love myself. No, that’s true.”
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She and her husband Julius Tennon – costar Weather – She encourages Genesis to “be honest about how she feels and know she doesn’t have to keep anything inside”. If you don’t share, if you don’t tell us, we can’t help you.”
And while there isn’t a role she loves more than being the mother of Genesis, she hopes the roles for women over 50 — especially Black women over 50 — continue to evolve.
“I play many mothers. Everyone wants me to play their mother. There are people on the street who hug me and call me mother,” she shared. Michael Jordan’s mother was proud to play Deloris. Weather because “it wasn’t your normal mother role … She was the one who made the bargain. [multi-million dollar Nike] deal, we know what today is. And that piqued my interest.”
“That’s the thing,” he added. “As for Black women over 50, that’s when [the lack of interesting roles is] problem. Then it is a vast desert.”
Empowering women in front of and behind the camera, L’Oreal applauds Paris’ Lights On Women Award and hopes the industry will continue to change.
“Women are no longer begging for a seat at the table, they are creating their own tables. Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Kerry Washington, Issa Rae, Michaela Coel, Halle Berry, Keke Palmer, we can go on and on – even Marsai Martin, who what, 18? – empower themselves by understanding that it is they who are the change they want to see.”