Kristen Bellis learning to accept every part of herself.
On Sunday night, theGood Placeactress was honored with the #SeeHer award at the2020 Critics’ Choice Awardsand gave an inspiring speech about being a woman and learning to embrace her flaws.
“But if I’m being honest, to me, being a woman isn’t about being brave or being strong or being powerful. It isn’t about being anything specific. It is just about giving yourself permission to be the things you already are,” she continued. “Which seems very easy, but it is not, because women have been conditioned to fit into boxes. Usually tiny, pretty sparkly boxes, with bows on them generally.”
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However, Bell said she’s learned to ignore that box, and paid homage to some of the unique female characters she’s had the chance to portray throughout her career that have embodied this narrative.
“So to me, the idea of womanhood is someone who sheds the perfect little box and owns their complexity. [And] I’ve been really lucky to be able to play some really complex women,” she said.
“Veronica Mars who was sassy and strong, but also soft and sad. Eleanor Shellstrop (The Good Place)who’s tough and independent, but who was also capable of love and community,” Bell explained. “Princess Anna(Frozen)who’s most likely the most unprincessy princess that has ever been animated, and Sarah Marshall(Forgetting Sarah Marshall)who, let’s be honest, was kind of an a——, but to me she was a really likable a——.”
“What I’ve learned from all that is that nobody is just one thing,” she added. “We are allallof the things.”
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The 39-year-old star — who wore an elegant green jumpsuit for the awards night — went on to thank her fans for the award, which she said will serve as a reminder for her to always shed the “pretty” box.
“So thank you for this, the reminder to #SeeHer and see myself in total, the brave parts and the cowardly parts and even the parts that cry at sloths,” Bell concluded, referencing herfamous viral video meltdownfrom 2011 when her husband,Dax Shephard, surprised her with a chance to meet her favorite animal.
source: people.com
