New 10 of the Month – Gabourey Sidibe

She’s larger, darker and just plain different looking than the average movie star.  And she’s also doing something very few people have the power to do – truly and completely redefining the public’s idea of beauty.  With her unique appearance and incredible attitude, Gabourey Sidibe is changing the way we see beauty and where we find it like no woman in decades – and maybe ever.

The New York native, who prefers to be called “Gabbie,” was an unknown young actress who had never even been in a movie, let alone starred in one.  But when she blew director Lee Daniels away with her emotional audition for the title role in “Precious,” everything changed.  The performer earned an Oscar-nomination and international recognition for her performance as an HIV-positive, abused, pregnant teenager.  Not the easiest role for a first-timer, to be sure.

But what’s really amazing about Miss Sidibe goes beyond her performance in “Precious,” as good as it was.  Because that’s exactly what she has done – gone beyond that character and revealed herself to be somebody completely different and totally unexpected.  Since we first learned to pronounce (and spell!) her unusual name, Sidibe has shown us that she really was acting in that role — in real life, she is hardly shy or depressed, but confident, funny and just about exploding with love and joy.

That’s where Sidibe’s beauty comes from, and it basically radiates out of every pore of her intelligent, confident, beautiful face.  As unusual-looking as she might be, she has a very real, down-to-earth strength that says, “I’m beautiful just the way I am.”  And when you open your eyes and take it all in, she really, truly is.

Hosting TV’s Saturday Night Live this past weekend, she kicked off the show by singing a song basically celebrating her life, not to mention joking with the rest of the world that she’s not Precious so they don’t need to “worry about her.”  You could just see the other cast members falling in love with her, and just maybe, young girls across America finding a new role model.  Because honestly, what’s more beautiful?  A poor, tortured soul like “The Hills’” famous Heidi Montag, who pursued her idea of physical perfection until the point where she couldn’t lift her arms anymore?  Or a woman who feels joy for who she truly is and shares that joy with the world?

For those of you who feel achieving that kind of self-acceptance is impossible, perhaps Sidibe’s own words will inspire you.  As she told The New York Times, there was a time her life when, “I wanted to be everybody else, but I wanted to want to be Gabbie.”

Today, not only does she want to be Gabbie, but other young women want to be Gabbie too.  I don’t know about you, but I think that is absolutely extraordinary.  As the mother of a teenage daughter – not to mention as a human being who lives in this planet – it might be one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.

You go, Gabbie.

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