Gugu Mbatha-Raw by Victor Demarchelier for Tatler UK February 2022
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Actor Gugu Mbatha-Raw, star of ‘The Girl Before’, is styled by Tracy Taylor in Alexander McQueen, Dior, Prada, Vivienne Westwood and pieces from Torso Vintages. Photographer Victor Demarchelier [IG] is behind the lens, capturing Mbatha-Raw in a fashion story based on “the new era of elegance” for Tatler UK’s February 2022 issue./ Hair by Victor Jones-Moore; makeup by Zabrina Matiru
‘The Girl Before’ plot-line involves challenging subject matter that includes stillbirth and baby loss, leaving the actor looking for somewhat lighter roles in the near future — a more ‘carefree energy’, Mbatha-Raw told another media outlet.
The reference to ‘carefree energy’ is smile-worthy as it relates to an absolutely charming Oprah story that the actor shares with Tatler’s Helena de Bertodano in their interview. Her big break came in 2013, with her lead role in the award-winning film ‘Belle’, where she played Dido Elizabeth Belle.
AOC shares the first paragraph:
It was after she appeared on a talk show to publicise Belle that Oprah Winfrey called her. At first she thought she was imagining things: ‘I was doing Oprah and Deepak Chopra’s 21-day meditation experience and it was around the end of that time that I got a call from her. I didn’t answer it because I didn’t recognise the number. And then I played the voicemail: it was like, “Hi, it’s Oprah.” It was that voice, so iconic, that I’d been listening to every day and I thought, “This is so surreal.” A lot of these meditations are focused on manifesting your best life and I thought, “Whoa, have I just manifested Oprah on my voicemail? This meditation is powerful stuff!”’
