Taylor Swift’s kindness wins over Lupita Nyong’o’s heart

Lupita Nyong’o credits Taylor Swift with getting her through tough time

Lupita Nyong’o asserted that Taylor Swift’s music helped her get through a difficult moment, and she even asked the pop diva for permission to incorporate her song Shake It Off in her film Little Monsters.

In an interview on First We Feast’s Hot Ones, Nyong’o told host Sean Evans, “I decided, OK, I’m going to go, I’m going to make a pitch. I’m going to let Taylor know what this song means to me.” 

When the movie’s producers said “they can’t get the rights” to the 2014 hit, Nyong’o took matters into her own hands.

“When I was working in London on Star Wars, I was going through a lot of self-doubt because it was the second thing I had done,” said Nyong’o as she ate hot wings.

“I was getting a little depressed. My best friend came to London and Taylor had just released ‘Shake It Off,’ and he played it for me to get me into better spirits.”

The lively tune worked its charm, as Nyong’o fondly remembered. “We just jumped on my bed and we just danced and danced, and it lifted my spirits.”

In Abe Forsythe’s scripted and directed film Little Monsters, Lupita Nyong’o plays Miss Audrey Caroline, a schoolteacher tasked with defending her young charges against a zombie attack.

To keep the kids quiet in the middle of the mayhem, the character sings and plays the ukulele along with tunes like Shake It Off.

In her pitch to Swift, 34, the Black Panther star “told her that story about how it lifted me from an almost depression,” Nyong’o told Evans, 38. “And the next thing I knew, it was cleared.”

Plus, she added, “I haven’t actually seen her since to thank her for it.”