Yara Shahidi Talks About Being a Socially Active Teen Star

Yara Shahidi looks absolutely beautiful on the cover of Essence‘s April 2018 issue, which is out now.

Here’s what the 18-year-old Grown-ish actress had to say…

On fame: “I’ve always struggled with Hollywood feeling trivial. Red carpets aren’t worth it. As fun as it is to get dressed up, it is surreal to be sitting at the Teen Choice Awards while [something like] Charlottesville is happening.”

On social media sensitivity: “Quite honestly, I’m the kind of person to get my feelings hurt over something somebody said on Twitter. There are those moments when I can go through 10 million amazing comments that are super supportive, and one person may say something and I’ll stew over it. That’s something that I’ve actively had to work on.”

On being a socially active teenager who still wants to have fun: “I feel comfortable putting my political stances out there without feeling as though I am filling some sort of quota…I don’t have a wokeness quota for the day.”

For more from Yara, head to Essence.com.