Beyoncé complimented Amandla Stenberg in the best way possible.
In the upcoming September issue of Glamour magazine, the 17-year-old actress and aspiring filmmaker shared an awesome compliment she received from Queen B. Believe it or not, the 34-year-old pop star handpicked the Hunger Games starlet along with Covergirl Zendaya, to star in the music video for “Freedom.”
“I just kind of got this phone call — it was like, ‘Go to New Orleans; Beyoncé wants you there,’ ” she revealed, explaining that she “didn’t really know the context or what was going to happen.”
But again, it’s Beyoncé. So, you don’t ask questions.
“I wasn’t going to pass [on] that opportunity,” said Stenberg.
To her surprise, as she headed to set on a tour bus with Zendaya, Beyonce’s dancers, and other “awesome Black women,” the Colombiana star began putting the pieces together. “I started to kind of pick up the theme of what it was and how it was going to go down,” Stenberg continued. “Zendaya and I kind of sat next to each other and like gossiped about what would happen, like we were so excited, we were kind of whispering in each other’s ears.”
If meeting Bey wasn’t epic enough, the showering of compliments that followed sure topped it off.
“Beyoncé comes up to me, and she goes, ‘Hello, Amandla. I just wanted to tell you I want Blue to be just like you,’ ” Stenberg recalled. “I felt like the hands of God were like gently caressing my entire body and soul, like I felt like I had reached nirvana, and I was like, ‘Thank you very much.’ I think I said something really lame and gushing about her to her face [laughing].”
But it wasn’t until the cameras began to roll, that Stenberg admitted she felt the magnitude of the moment. “It was really a powerful experience because we were shooting on this former slave plantation, and being in that space, like reclaiming that space, in an empowering way, where we were creating art that services and like promotes the beauty of people of color was really trippy,” she said.
As fans know, Beyoncé commissioned an all-star squad for Lemonade, including: tennis champion Serena Williams, 93-year-old Creole cooking legend Leah Chase; Canadian model Winnie Harlow; ballerina Michaela DePrince; Quvenzhané Wallis; child model Ava Clarke;, Chloe and Halle Bailey; Ibeyi; Trayvon Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton; Eric Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr; Michael Brown’s mother, Lezley McSpadden; and Blue Ivy and Jay Z, of course.
