Lena Waithe has revealed the powerful reason she cut her hair - and it's amazing

Lena Waithe has received an outpouring of support after she revealed the reason she shaved off her hair.

On 9 August, the acclaimed actor, writer and producer attended the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's grants banquet in Beverley Hills rocking the incredibly short haircut, which she had debuted on her Instagram account in July, with the simple caption:

New tings.

When a reporter from Varietyat the event asked her to elaborate on the hair style, she answered in the most powerful way:

Speaking to the reporter, she said:

I’ve been thinking about it for a while. I felt like I was holding onto a piece of femininity that would make the world feel comfortable with who I am.

I think I thought for a long time, ‘Oh, if I cut my hair, I’ll be a stud, I’ll be—in the gay world, there’s a lot of categories—I’ll be a stud or I’ll be a butch,’ and I’ve always thought, ‘Well, no, I’m not that, I’m still soft,’ and I said, ‘Oh, I gotta put that down ’cause that’s something that is outside of me.’

And I said ‘I’m going to do it and I cut it and I felt so free, so happy, so joyful and I really stepped into myself.

And if people call me a butch or say ‘she’s stud’ or call me sir out in the world—so what? So be it.

I’m here with a suit on, not a stitch of makeup, and a haircut—I feel like, ‘Why can’t I exist in the world in that way?

When it was posted to Twitter, the short clip garnered thousands of reactions.

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