ELLE’s Women in Hollywood Awards brought films biggest names to the forefront, providing a space for women to share stories of adversity and courage. The awards highlighted the strength of women in film.
Cicely Tyson tells about how having a perfect life is not the most important thing, but rather “to use the tears to irrigate tolerance.” Use the losses in your life and obstacles you face to rise above and do better.
Jessica Chastain says “I made a choice to stop worrying about saying the wrong thing, and I decided to set my own table with room for other women to pull up a chair.” Laura Dern reminding everyone of the quote, “every man for himself,” but to change that to “every woman for each other.”
Reese Witherspoon tells us, “Hearing these brave women speak up tonight about the things that we are kind of told she sweep under the rug and not talk about. It’s made me want to speak up and speak up loudly because I felt less alone this week than I have ever felt in my entire career.“
Ava Duvernay said, “We don’t have time to work on these -isms one by one. Triggered by trauma and outrage we should be outraged by all of it all of the time. Until we are all safe, no one is safe.”
Kathleen Kennedy talked about how “misogyny is depriving human beings of their humanity. The outreach and camaraderie of this event is meant to empower the women of the entertainment industry and to give them a voice.
