Photo: Brigitte Lacombe

How did I come to love the way I look? Well. I've never felt insecure. I've never not been accepted. [ Laughs heartily ] Okay, okay, I mean that if I wasn't accepted, I just chose not to take it on. I always had plenty of wins: I went to a high school where they bussed in the black kids (this was in the 1960s); I was the first black cheerleader there and was chosen out of all the kids to organize a huge musical competition that involved the whole school. When I started to model, I was so odd-looking; I really looked like a skinny black boy—I had a short Afro, I didn't wear makeup—and believe you me, I got rejected a lot. But I was brought up to believe in myself."


Comedian Ali Wentworth appreciates the beauty of a sense of humor.