Lupita Nyong’o is crediting her work on “A Quiet Place: Day One” for silencing her fear of cats.
The Academy Award winner plays Samira in a horror movie that sees her accompanied by her cat Frodo as aliens invade Earth and take over New York City.
“I’ve been terrified of cats my entire life,” explained Nyong’o of how she felt before the movie in an interview with “CBS Mornings” on Tuesday.
“I wouldn’t be in a room with a cat, I would cry … I just found them suspicious, you know, they’re like little lions, like, if they were any bigger they would eat us.”
Nyong’o added that she begged director Michael Sarnoski to consider a different animal for the part like an armadillo.
She proceeded to reveal that she did exposure therapy where someone brought cats to her home and released cats in her presence as she stood on the other side of the room.
Nyong’o revealed in October that she adopted an orange tabby cat named Yoyo, days after publicly announcing her split with her boyfriend Selema Masekela.
She wrote that she was compelled to listen to a little voice whispering to her that it was “time to embrace change and new possibilities” after her life had been “altered.”
“I never understood people whose phones were full of photos and videos of their pets — now I am one of those people! It may look like I saved Yoyo, but really, Yoyo is saving me,” wrote Nyong’o, who noted that she fostered her cat before adopting him through Best Friends Animal Society.
She recently told People magazine that her latest film forced her to learn about the felines she once feared.
“And I had to look like I owned a cat, and look like I cared, and look like I loved the cat,” said Nyong’o, who added that she “fell in love” with a pair of “sweet and cute” cat actors Nico and Schnitzel while on set.
She continued, “There’s something that melts your heart when they hold onto you. It was a bond that I had with them.”
As for her cat at home, she recognizes how Yoyo brought her healing when she had a “severely broken” heart after her split last year.
“This cat isn’t going anywhere,” Nyong’o told Glamour in a feature published earlier this month.
“I guess the best anecdote for when you feel poorly taken care of is to take care of something. And I took care of Yoyo and he pried my heart open.”
“A Quiet Place: Day One” is now playing in theaters and is projected to have the franchise’s best opening weekend at the domestic box office.