Adesua Etomi-Wellington Just Became The First Nigerian Ever To Grace The Cover Of Vogue USA

This is major! Adesua Etomi-Wellington is on the cover of Vogue Magazine!

The actress, along with 13 other superstars from across the world including Hollywood’s Scarlett Johannson, Bollywood’s Deepika Padukone, and China’s Angelababy among others graced the just released cover of the American publication edited by the legendary Anna Wintour.

The cover is very significant because it would be the first time in the publication’s over 126 years of existence that a Nigerian would be on the HIGHLY coveted cover (for emphasis, it took Kim Kardashian marrying Kanye West for her to land her first ever Vogue cover.)

Here’s what the magazine wrote about her:

The Nigerian actress Adesua Etomi-Wellington can’t walk down the street in Lagos without getting mobbed, and if she’s with her husband, the actor Banky Wellington, forget it—a trip to the grocery store launches a thousand selfies. But unlike some of her cohorts on the shoot, she’s more of a third-culture kid, born in Nigeria and raised mainly in England. (She speaks in two fluent accents—Lagos and the British Midlands.) She went to school in Coventry, studied drama at University of Wolverhampton, and then got a nine-to-five job with the fashion arm of a large supermarket chain. It was then that, as she puts it, “I can’t explain it—I felt I had to go back to Nigeria.”

That was toward the end of 2012, and in the past six years or so she has become one of the biggest stars in Nollywood, Nigeria’s relatively young film industry. The Wedding Party (2016), a colorful and witty romantic comedy in which she plays the lead opposite Wellington, was the highest-grossing film in the history of Nigerian cinema, until it was eclipsed by its sequel, which also starred Etomi-Wellington. In fact, she points out, of the four films that have done best for the relatively young industry, she is in three. “I love, love, love Nollywood,” Etomi-Wellington says brightly over tea and biscuits at the shoot. “I feel like she’s my baby, and it’s my responsibility, along with a lot of other performers, to grow her.”

Proud husband, Banky Wellington couldn’t contain his excitement as he shared the news on his Instagram writing,

Breaking news: My wife is on the cover of VOGUE MAGAZINE!!!!!!!!!! Susu you are such a star and an inspiration!!! I’m soooo PROUD of you and happy for you. You’re an incredible actor, and an even more incredible human being, and you deserve to shine so bright that the whole world has no choice but to see it.

This is incredible. Thank you to@voguemagazine and glory to God.

Ladies and gentlemen, Pls if you see me walking around with high shoulders today, you shld understand. ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Established in 1892, it wasn’t until 1975 that a black woman – Beverly Johnson – graced the magazine widely regarded as the fashion bible for the very first time. And it wasn’t until even more recently – 2018 to be precise – that the magazine let black photographers shoot their covers – first, Tyler Mitchell for their September 2018 cover, and second, Nigeria’s Nadine Ijewere for the January 2019 cover.