A viral video of 4-year-old Ariyonna calling herself “ugly” is breaking hearts across the nation.
In the video, Ariyonna is getting her locs retwisted by her hairstylist Shabria. The little girl looks directly into the camera, as Shabria was on Instagram live, and nonchalantly says, “I’m ugly.” At that point, Shabria immediately reminds the young girl that she is beautiful. She showered Ariyonna with love and compliments as she began to cry.
The video went viral on social media and both Shabria and Ariyonna received an outpouring of love from people everywhere.
Actress Viola Davis reposted the video to her social media and shared positive words to Ariyonna and other black women who think that their skin and hair make them ugly.
“THIS is the motivating factor for Black women to leave a legacy…of WORTH of BEAUTY!” she wrote in the Instagram caption. “We are fighting hundreds of years of brutal conditioning of being considered less than. It is sprinkled in our language, behavior, laws, music…etc.. and trickles down to our youth. I’m speaking LIFE into Ariyonna. From a sista who looks a lot like you….you were born worthy therefore you were born beautiful!❤❤ 🎥 @lilwavedaddy.”
Jada Pinkett Smith also reposted the video and praised Shabria for loving on Ariyonna during
She wrote, “THIS made me cry! Kudos to this beautiful woman for loving on this beautiful child! We gotta love on each other! This made my heart sing✨ @lilwavedaddy.”
Director Ava DuVernay reposted the video on Twitter and said that it brought her to tears.
“In tears over this,” she tweeted. “Somebody told this child this and her heart broke and her confidence broke and she believed it. Thank God for this beautiful spirit in her life to tell her differently. This video shows how deeply we harm each other. And fully we can lift each other up.”
Take a look at the celebrity reactions below.