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 easing her fear of cats.

The Academy Award winner plays Samira in a horror film in which she is joined by her cat Frodo as aliens invade Earth and take over New York City.

“I’ve been terrified of cats my whole life,” Nyong’o explained Tuesday about how she felt before the film in an interview with “CBS Mornings.”

“I wouldn’t be in a room with a cat, I would be crying… I just thought they were suspicious, you know, they’re like little lions, if they were any 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 did exposure therapy where someone brought cats to her house and released cats in her presence while she stood on the other side of the room.

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

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

“I never understood people whose phones were full of photos and videos of their pets – now I’m one of those people! It may seem like I saved Yoyo, but in reality Yoyo saves me.” Nyong’o wrotewho noted that she cared for 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 had 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 few “ sweet and cute” kittens. cat actors Nico and Schnitzel while you’re on set.

She continued, “There’s something that melts your heart when they hold you. It was a bond I had with them.”

As for her cat at home, she recognizes how Yoyo brought her healing when she was left “severely broken” after her breakup last year.

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

“I think the best anecdote for when you feel uncared for 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.