Lupita Nyong'o may have been victorious at this year's Academy-Awards, but it sounds the process isn't particularly pleasant.

The whole award season was rather overwhelming for the 31 year-old actress, who was unheard of before starring in '12 Years A Slave,' especially the daunting experience of walking the red carpet.

While Nyong'o landed her first front cover of Vogue, looking stunning in a Prada purple-and-red printed dress, she revealed what it is like being at the limelight of Hollywood.

"Everyone said, 'Brace yourself, Lupita! Keep a granola bar in that clutch of yours!' I didn't really understand what they meant, and it was only once it was past that I realized that my body had been holding on by a thread to get through this very intense experience. Nothing can prepare you for awards season," she said.

"The red carpet feels like a war zone, except you cannot fly or fight; you just have to stand there and take it. I hope they don't make that the big quote! Because that would be sad! Tell them not to do that," she told Vogue.

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Along with being honored at this past award season, Nyong'o was also named this year's "Most Beautiful" person by People Magazine, and landed a part in the highly anticipated flick, 'Star Wars Episode VII.'

"It just feels like the entertainment industry exploded into my life," the Ethiopian actress said of her career. "People who seemed so distant all of a sudden were right in front of me and recognizing me before I recognized them!"

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"For a split second I looked behind me to see who they were flashing at - and it was me!" she said of the paparazzi," she continued. "That was, I think, the beginning of the end of my anonymity. Even in my dreams of being an actor, my dream was not in the celebrity. My dream was in the work that I wanted to do."

Hopefully the second half of 2014 can be just as successful for Lupita!

Lupita Nyong'o
Nyong'o compares walking the red carpet to a war zone