Throughout her entire career, Thandiwe Newton has allowed her name to be misspelled. Not anymore. In a new interview where the Westworld actress goes deep on the racism and sexual harassment she’s faced over the years, Newton opens up about how she’s begun to assert herself in the past decade for herself and for her daughter, up and coming actress Nico Parker, and how she will “talk until the cows come home” if she sees any type of abuse from Hollywood. Regaining her confidence has prompted Newton to no longer be complicit in pretending race doesn’t exist.
“The thing I’m most grateful for in our business right now is being in the company of others who truly see me. And to not be complicit in the objectification of Black people as ‘others’, which is what happens when you’re the only one,” Newton told British Vogue before revealing her name will be correctly spelled as “Thandiwe” from here on out:
All her future films will be credited with Thandiwe Newton, after the W was carelessly missed out from her first credit. Now she’s in control. Many lives lived and she’s come out triumphant, preserved in the magic of the mist and sun that made her, and wanted her to shine. “That’s my name. It’s always been my name. I’m taking back what’s mine.”
In case it was’t clear how committed Netwon is to not taking anymore crap, last summer, the actress called out her Mission: Impossible 2 co-star Tom Cruise, who is easily one of the biggest names in Hollywood. To Newton’s shock, people were here for it. “I was surprised by the appreciation I had got,” she told Variety and iHeart’s The Big Ticket podcast. “I thought that I would be in trouble because that’s kind of what I’m used to.”
(Via British Vogue)