Laverne Cox talks about her Dating Life, Self-Love & More in Self Magazine’s Latest Issue

Laverne Cox is on the cover of Self‘s latest issue and the 46-year-old Orange Is The New Black actress opened up about dating, being transgender, how her view of herself has changed, self-love and more.

Read excerpts below.

On dating: “I wanted a man to validate my womanhood or validate that I’m attractive…I’m not buying it anymore. I’m not buying into that, I’m not having it. I’m sexy and I’m going to own that because I think trans women…are sexy. A lot of us are sexy not despite our transness, but because of our transness. That’s just the truth.”

On how her view of herself changed: “When I started transitioning 20 years ago, the goal of transitioning was not to be openly trans…the goal of transitioning as presented to me by all the trans women that I admired was that you transition and you go and disappear and don’t tell anyone your business…there were a lot of times over many years I went through the world not leading with being trans, but someone always knew. I had to really get to a place in my life where I was able to be good with being trans or I was going to have to kill myself.”

On the importance of “cheesy” self-care affirmations: “There’s a bit of cynicism that I, too, have had about doing affirmations, but it’s really a wonderful thing. Sometimes you say it until you believe it. I can’t say I haven’t looked in the mirror and said, ‘Work, bitch’…loving myself is a practice. It is something that I must cultivate and it is something that I must consciously do or it will go away.”

Read more on Self.com.