“Game of Thrones” star Nathalie Emmanuel opened up about learning to embrace her gorgeous natural curls, and it’s so important

Nathalie Emmanuel plays the Khalessi’s right-hand woman on Game of Thrones. And recently, outside the show, the actress opened up about loving her natural curls. Here’s the thing: We love Nathalie. She always looks stunning when she takes on the red carpet. And she slays every scene she’s in as Missandei in Game of Thrones. Basically, she is pretty amazing. But we’re here to talk about those absolutely gorgeous curls of hers.

And Nathalie has definitely embraced her curls.

In a recent interview with Byrdie, Nathalie opened up about the road to loving her natural hair.

"I think a lot of women with textured hair go through that same journey, where they want to chemically straighten their hair," she said. "And that's fine if that's what makes you happy, but I think many women feel trapped by it."

Nathalie added that her school wouldn’t allow her to wear her hair in its natural texture. A teacher even called her mom to say Nathalie needed to wear her hair in braids. (Not okay.)

"Wearing my natural hair wasn't really allowed when I was in primary school," she said. "So my hair was always slicked down or put in braids, sort of hidden away."

When Nathalie visited her Saint Lucian family, she learned to love her curls.

"I just became much more connected to my roots when I went to [the Caribbean]," she said. "Something about being there and embracing the culture made me realize for the first time that my hair is a part of my mixed-race heritage. It's a part of me."

When she returned to the U.K., she began wearing her hair in an afro.  Now she loves that it’s one of the first things people notice about her.  

"I think my hair is the first thing people recognize me for," she said. "And I'm happy about that, because I think we've all gotten so used to women straightening and changing their natural hair."

The fact that Nathalie embraced her natural hair and that the style has become such a staple on Game of Thronesis inspiring to fans, especially young fans, with textured hair. They look to Nathalie and see that she doesn’t chemically straighten her gorgeous curls.

Basically, we’re obsessed with Nathalie Emmanuel and her beautiful self. And really, who wouldn’t love everything about Nathalie? She is amazing.

Filed Under