Lupita Nyong’o Reveals She Was ‘Terrified’ of Cats Before ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’

Lupita Nyong’o credits her work on “A Quiet Place: Day One” with silencing her fear of cats.

The Oscar-winning actress plays Samira in a horror film that sees her accompanied by her cat Frodo as aliens invade Earth and take over New York City.

“I’ve been afraid of cats my whole life,” Nyong’o said of how she felt before screening the film 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 bigger they would eat us. »

Nyong’o added that she begged director Michael Sarnoski to consider another animal for the role, such as an armadillo.

She then revealed that she had undergone exposure therapy in which someone brought cats into her home and released them in her presence while she stood across the room.

Nyong’o revealed in October that she had adopted an orange tabby cat named Yoyo, days after publicly announcing her split from boyfriend Selema Masekela.

She wrote that she was forced to listen to a small voice whispering that it was “time to embrace change and new possibilities” after her life was “changed.”

“I never understood people whose phones were filled with pictures and videos of their pets. And now I’m one of them! You might think I saved Yoyo, but Yoyo is actually 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 more about the felines she once feared.

“And I had to look like I owned a cat, and look like I cared about it, 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 filming.

She continued: “There’s something that melts your heart when they hold on to you. That was a bond I had with them.

As for her cat at home, she credits how Yoyo brought her healing when she was “severely heartbroken” after her separation last year.

“This cat isn’t going anywhere,” Nyong’o told Glamor in an article published earlier this month.

“I guess the best anecdote when feeling uncared for is to take care of something. And I took care of Yoyo and he opened my heart.

“A Quiet Place: Day One” is currently playing in theaters and is on track to have the franchise’s best opening weekend at the domestic box office.