Shondaland.com is thrilled to share Shonda Rhimes' powerful acceptance speech for the Elle Luminary Award, given on Oct. 16 at the Elle Women in Hollywood Awards. The following are her remarks, in full.
Thank you, Elle. And thank you, Nina Garcia.
I want to thank Ellen Pompeo for being on this wild strange trip with me for all these seasons. Grey’s Anatomy — which was my first job in television, my very first series and Ellen’s as well — is fifteen seasons old.
Ellen and I have become forever linked. We are linked by our lives — we are both mothers raising three children of color in a world that needs so much change. We are linked by the character we created together – Meredith Grey, a smart competitive woman with a fierce drive, a deep heart and a messed-up childhood. Ellen and I truly have grown up together, we have grown together, we have grown into our power together. We have learned from one another and we have taught one another and we have supported each other.
Over the years on this show, Ellen and I have discovered how powerful we are — both separately and together. I don’t know if any of you out there know but, when Ellen and I are working together to get what we want, what we deserve, we make a truly terrifyingly powerful awesome pair of badass women warriors. See, over the course of our 15 seasons, Ellen and I went from believing we were employees of a network to understanding WE were the network.
In a world in which women of all colors are constantly forced to battle with men for equity and inclusion, we had the good fortune to work in an environment that we had nurtured and built with enough of our sweat and tears over enough years that we no longer needed to battle men to get to the top of the mountain. We built our own mountains. And then we realized all we had to do was simply equalize and include one another.
I tell you this for TWO reasons.
One. I am awesome. And I work with a ton of other equally awesome women. And women do not brag enough. The other day, I came to the conclusion that men brag and women hide. Even when they don’t deserve to brag, men brag – men like Trump and Kavanaugh.
And when men do deserve to brag… oh my gosh, they are so good at it. They do it so well. Men brag about EVERYTHING. Even things that aren’t things. But women…well…
A little while ago, in an inspiring article, Ellen told the world she was the highest paid woman in dramatic television. She did not hide. She bragged. She said she was powerful. And she said she deserved it.
There was some blow back. And there should not have been. I have seen a thousand articles like that from men. But she’s a woman. And people felt she shouldn’t say things like that. People made clear that she should hide.
I was so angry on her behalf. But then, when it was my turn, what did I go and do?
Ryan Murphy — who is amazingly talented and someone I admire – when Ryan made his big deal with Netflix, he shouted his salary to the world and did a gorgeous photo shoot for the cover of the Hollywood Reporter. Ryan deserved every moment of it. I applaud him.
When I made a deal with Netflix, I let them report my salary wrong in the press and then did as few interviews as possible. I put my head down and worked. In other words, I hid.
I’m getting this award for inspiring other women. How can I inspire anyone if I am hiding?
So. Let me take a deep breath. And on behalf of women everywhere and in the name of not leaving my sister hanging, I will… brag.
Here goes:
I am the highest paid showrunner in television. And I deserve it.
How is that for girl power?
How is that for some black girl magic?
We need to set an example. I AM AWESOME. We are awesome. Which is another way of saying we have power. We are powerful women. And when we say we have power, what we are really saying is, we DESERVE to have power. We DESERVE whatever good thing it is we are getting.
Demanding what you deserve can feel like a radical act.
We live in a world in which only men are allowed scream and cry and demand. Even in places like Senate hearings. Women who cry or scream or demand or deserve are not sympathetic. Women who do that are deemed difficult. They are called crazy. They are labeled the bitches who need to go.
We need to support the incredible powerful women around us. We need to encourage that power. We need to delight in it. We need make sure the power of other women is enjoyed and celebrated.
We need to ALL agree to be difficult crazy bitches who need to go.
Which brings me to my second reason for saying all of this:
Throughout my career, at every turn, at every step, I have found at the heart of every last one of my successes, profound and amazing women with whom I have had the good fortune to work. With whom I have formed incredible sisterhood bonds. Women so different from me who have changed who I am at my core. I think of actors: Ellen, Sandra Oh, Amy Brenneman, Kerry Washington, Katie Lowes and more. I think of writers like Krista Vernoff, Jenna Bans. Directors like Debbie Allen. The smart women who force me into nice clothes: Dana Asher and Orsolina Garcia. All of the extraordinary women I work with at Shondaland. Channing Dungey at ABC. The unbelievable posse of woman power and friendship that I have found over the past year within Time’s Up. My NANNY Jenny McCarthy who is the single most important working woman on the planet.
At every turn, women. Good women, great women, leaning on and leading one another. Providing inspiration and hard work and community. Making it feel a little bit easier to fight the good fight.
I tell you the story of Ellen and me because I want to make a point. This point. This struggle we are in the midst of, that feels so hard, is hard. But it is not impossible. Not if you have a community. A real one. A supportive one. Tonight, we have one another. There are women out there struggling alone. Who do not have other women on their set. Who may be the only person of color in their company. Who may be older than you are used to or younger or browner or less abled. Women who you have forgotten to include in your conversations and your world. Be a person who pulls other women, new women, different women into your circle. Widen your circle to hold more people. Lose your judgements of who someone is based on what you’ve heard or what you assume.
Make some friends, find some new sisters.
Come together. Work together. Brag together. Be powerful together. And whenever you can, lift one another up. Because lifting someone else is what lifts you.
That. Is the point.
