Laverne Cox, the breakout star of "Orange Is The New Black" talked to VIBE VIXEN about her ground-breaking role and the bullying she experienced growing up. Read the highlights and see a clip of Tyra Banks starring on "Glee".
In their last issue, VIBE VIXEN chatted with Laverne Cox, the ground-breaking transgender actress from Netflix's "Orange Is The New Black". In the cover story, Laverne talks about the bullying she felt as a child, how her transition affected her family and how she's become an advocate for the transgender community.
Here are the highlights:
What can you tell us about your worst experience with bullying?
When I grew up in Alabama, I was called a sissy, a fag and kids basically wanted to beat me up every day. There was a time in middle school when some kids hit my brother and I with drumsticks and a parent from the school saw it. We knew we could never tell our mother because she would blame us and question why we weren’t fighting back, but the principal called her. It was really awful and painful.How supportive was your twin brother through the transitioning process?
He’s amazing. It’s never been an issue for him. He loves me and wants me to be happy. He gets it. He’s a musician with a beautiful voice and an absolutely wonderful performer.Who has your transition been the hardest on?
My mom had a weird adjustment period with it. A lot of it was just educating her. It took years to get her to use the right pronouns. Anytime there is surgery and hormones, it freaked her out a bit, but I wouldn’t say it was hard on her or anyone. Before I started the medications and surgical procedures, I didn’t have people in my life that would have a problem. For the people that know me, this wasn’t a weird thing. It wasn’t like this was out of the blue. They always knew who I was. I’m really the same person.
It looks like the role of Sophia was made for you.
I just auditioned! In August of 2012, I was at an event with my agent, who brought it my way. I was actually doing research on Cece McDonald, at the time. She’s a black trans-woman who’s in prison in Minnesota. I was trying to interview her for a show called In the Life, which lost its funding. Now I’m happy because I get to interview her. I think about her a lot during this journey. She was harassed walking down the street by people yelling anti-trans and racial slurs. A fight broke out and one of her tappers ended up dead, and she is in prison for it. I’m interviewing her for a documentary.Oh, wow! What’s the documentary?
It’s going to be about violence against trans-women and Cici’s case is going to be a really big part of that. In a lot of ways, it’s a microcosm of what so many trans-women of color experience. We have the racist piece, the transphobic piece, and the criminal justice piece.What is your personal style?
For me, it’s about being casual and comfortable. When I have an appearance or meeting, I turn up the glamour. But where I’m at now, I’ve been calling it a younger Michelle Obama. I wear a lot of BCBG and Anne Klein for my speaking engagements. Very professional, but add a little sexiness to it with a lot of minis and sheath dresses.
We love her. Read the full interview here.
On television.....
Last night, "ANTM" founder Tyra Banks made a funny appearance on "Glee" as model agency owner "Bichette". Don't you just love the wordplay? Ha.
In a recent interview, Tyra spoke about the role saying,"It is really fun to be able to play this! Had I known that I’d be playing the people who tormented me I would’ve been so much happier as a teenage model!’ I’d be like ‘I’m gonna play you one day, keep doing that because that’s just information to put into my character in the future."
Prior to the show's airdate, she tweeted, "‘The character I'm playing on @GLEEonFOX 2nite stands 4 EXACTLY the OPPOSITE of what I stand 4. If she existed, I'd hate her guts!’
Photos via Jasmine L. Gonzalez/Nicholas Nichols