Actress Lupita Nyong'o apologized after facing backlash for comments she made that one of the characters she plays in the horror film "Us" was inspired by a disorder that impacts people who have experienced emotional or physical trauma.
"The thought that I would, in a way, offend them was not my intention," Nyong'o said on "The View" on Thursday. "In my mind, I wasn't interested in vilifying or demonizing the condition. I crafted Red with love and care."
In Jordan Peele's latest movie about a family who encounters their evil doppelgängers, Nyong'o plays two characters by the names of Adelaide Wilson and Red.
During an interview with Variety at the Los Angeles premiere of “Us,” the actress said she drew inspiration for Red's husky, shaky voice from Spasmodic Dysphonia, a neurological condition that causes a person's voice to go into periods of spasm.
The disorder affects roughly 50,000 people in North America and is triggered by "illnesses such as viral infection, head trauma, bronchitis, surgery, or a stressful event," according to the National Spasmodic Dysphonia Association.