Dascha Polanco from 'Orange is the new black' gives most relatable body positivity interview as she strips naked for magazine
Dascha Polanco once walked pants-free for the New York Fashion Week, so of course, she isn't the first person who comes to our mind when we think of body issues or those who suffer from low self-esteem.
But in a new interview, as she stripped naked for Women's Health magazine, 'The Orange is the New Black' star shared that she hadn't always embraced her show-stopping curves.
“People tell me all the time that they love my confidence,” she says in the September issue of the magazine titled 'Naked Truth'. “It’s kind of ironic because it’s something I’ve struggled with for as long as I can remember.”
The 35-year-old star gives credit to social media for helping to create the idea of unconditional self-love but she openly admits her own body issues stem back to childhood.
"I remember looking at myself as a kid and knowing I was different than the other girls—I was chubby and curvier and had rolls and thick thighs. My school uniform skirt never fit right—it was longer in the front and too short in the back. In reality, my body type was the norm, but I was always looking at it negatively and comparing myself to the super-slim “cool girls.” I questioned my body—why couldn’t it be like theirs? I just wanted to look like those girls," she narrates.
Many readers instantly related themselves to Polanco, because believe it or not, insecurities have played on everyone. However, Polcano reveals that sometimes her hatred for her body was so intense that she wished she could alter it even by self-harm to fit into mainstream beauty norms.
“I got to a point where I wished I could cut off my rolls with scissors,” she says. “I would grab at my thighs and say, ‘Ugh, I hate you, you’re ugly, I don’t like you! Oh my God, I just want to get rid of this!"
While struggling for body positivity, she found her route to self-acceptance because she wanted to be a role model for her children.
“I wanted to instill in my kids self-acceptance and a sense of self-love..... I wanted them to be confident, and I knew I had to model that."
For the 'Naked Truth' edition of the magazine, Polanco models for a gorgeous nude shot and though she says she has “Ugh, these legs!” days, all we can see is a woman comfortable in her skin.
"[W]anting to eat a burger doesn’t impact my acting or my ability to help people. Neither does getting older—reaching new decades and going through physical changes is something we should celebrate, not fear. When I realized that, it helped me let go of the little things that bugged me and respect my body for what it allows me to do. I wanted to care for it," she says adding; "Dascha, when you die this body goes back to Earth, so shine through and you’ll be a light that will live forever.”