Oprah
Winfrey, who was selected this year as a Variety Power of
Women honoree along with Salma Hayek Pinault, Anna
Kendrick, Gwyneth Paltrow and YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki,
brought down the house at the Power of Women luncheon, presented by
Lifetime, held Friday at the Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire hotel
in Beverly Hills.
Variety’s biannual event, held both in Los Angeles and New York each
year, honors women in the entertainment industry who use their public platform
to raise awareness and work toward charitable causes.
Recognized for her
incredible work with the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy Foundation, Winfrey
was the only one to receive a standing ovation at the event. However, in true
Oprah fashion, the media mogul, who was introduced by director Ava DuVernay,
put the attention on the other women in the room.
“I have always known
this about celebrity,” Winfrey said, giving a nod to the public figures in
the room. “The real power is understanding that what Salma has done, what Susan
has done, what Gwyneth has done, what Rebecca has done, what Jim has done, is
you, too, can do [it] because true philanthropy comes from living from the
heart of yourself and giving what you have been given.”
Winfrey urged the
room to make a difference themselves, continuing, “What we’ve done, you can do.
The real empowerment comes when each person leaves this room and makes a
decision.”
Becoming weepy while speaking of “her
daughters” from her girls’ school in Africa (one of whom was in the audience),
she recalled something significant that Maya Angelou once told her: Your
legacy is seen in those whose lives you’ve touched. “It’s a beautiful
thing to receive an award and to be on the cover of Variety,”
Winfrey said. “But the true reward comes from the lives you have been able
to touch and you know that you have impacted.”
SEE MORE:Salma Hayek Blasts Hollywood Sexism at
Variety Event: ‘We’re Not Going Away at 30’
Hayek Pinault,
who was honored at the luncheon for her work with the Chime for Change
charity, touched on similar subjects when delivering her remarks. “What
gives me a hope is that in a world that is becoming apart, women are coming
together,” she said, garnering a huge round of applause from the
awe-inspired crowd.
Introduced by Jada
Pinkett-Smith, who called Hayek Pinault “the ultimate ride-or-die chick of
Hollywood,” the Mexican-American multi-hyphenate spoke of coming to the States
as a young actress.
“I thought I was going
to be working right away, but I was really worried about the other girls… And I
was so wrong,” she recalled of the catty stereotype of competitive women in the
biz. “For my very long career in the United States, I have to say, when I
am about to die, I will remember with a smile on my face and in my heart, the
amazing sisters, the extraordinary friends that I’ve made in this industry. I
don’t know if maybe this is the industry that has the best women in the world —
maybe because we’ve been so suppressed, we have kind of a bonding.”
Hayek Pinault added that
she feels “very confident” that she is part of the generation of change,
noting that women in Hollywood no longer just want to be considered for
romantic comedies with the fantasy of finding the perfect Prince Charming. “We
changed, but no one took the time to change with us in the industry,” she said.
As the packed room dined
on a three-course meal and celebratory champagne, Lisa Kudrow took the stage to
present the next award to Kendrick, with whom she worked on the Duplass
brothers’ upcoming film “Table 19.” Kudrow added, “There are no half
measures for Anna.”
The “Pitch Perfect” star
was recognized for her work with the Trevor Project, providing crisis
intervention and suicide services to LGBTQ teens.
“If you’ve spent any
time on social media, you’ve probably seen there’s this sexual revolution
happening,” Kendrick said. “And it’s beautiful and it’s fun and it’s exciting,
and it gives me hope that this generation is onto something.”
The youngest honoree, Kendrick walked the
event’s red carpet with the Trevor Project’s founder, and raved that she was
taken by surprise to be named one of the five Power of Women honorees,
noting that she can’t believe her face is on Variety‘s
special covers for the event. “Fun fact,” she said, sharing a story
that raised laughter from the crowd. “The day of my cover shoot, I had jury
duty and missed my shoot…I feel like if I had any real power, I could have
gotten out of it. I feel like Oprah could have probably gotten out of it.”
SEE MORE:Anna Kendrick Helps Give Hope to LGBT
Teens With the Trevor Project
Before Oprah took the
stage, Oscar-winner Reese Witherspoon presented the EmPOWerment Award to the
only male honoree, 20th Century Fox chairman/CEO Jim Gianopulos, for whom
Witherspoon produced “Gone Girl” and “Wild.”
“We’re not going to talk
about you when you leave and tell you that you can’t be the love interest
opposite George Clooney — but you can be the mother,” Witherspoon sassily
quipped as she introduced Gianopulos, referring to the topic of
ageism and male domination in Hollywood.
Gianopulos, however,
took center stage to relay the exact opposite message.
“I hope that someday,
the concept of honoring men for empowering women will be obsolete and seem
ridiculous. I hope that someday I tell my grandchildren that I received this
award and they’ll laugh at me,” he announced, adding that women “don’t
need empowerment, they empower me.” The movie studio exec thanked the
women he works with and spoke on behalf of the biz, saying, “The talent exists…
It’s our job to hire them.” He continued, “Change is happening. It’s happening
in the hearts and minds of the industry and there’s a growing recognition that
the status quo is simply unacceptable.”
Rosie
Huntington-Whiteley, Moroccanoil ambassador for the beauty company’s
Inspired By Women campaign, presented the Moroccanoil Inspiration to
Action award to Rebecca Welsh of the HALO Foundation, who works with
orphans and at-risk children.
Other sponsors for the
daytime event included Frederique Constant; Audi; Unite4Good; Saint Vintage,
whose founder, two-time cancer survivor, Paige Jansen-Nichols, spoke about
finding a cure at the luncheon; plus charity partner Entertainment Industry
Foundation, which matches the Variety Foundation’s donations to the honorees’
charities.
Amid the emotional
speeches, Lifetime’s head of programming Liz Gateley showed a video of
Lifetime’s Broad Focus initiative, which champions female content creators in
the industry. Eva Longoria and Queen Latifah are among the many women working
with the cable network, which Gateley announced has always welcomed women to be
in positions of power.
SEE
MORE:YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki Crusades for Family Benefits
YouTube CEO Susan
Wojcicki was honored for her work with the educational charity Room to Read.
“My mom was the first one in her family who was able to go to college. It
changed her life, it changed her trajectory, it changed my life and it changed
my sister’s life as well,” Wojcicki shared, explaining her commitment to
spreading education.
Introduced by YouTube
sensation Bethany Mota — who spoke to Variety on the carpet
about overcoming cyber-bullying — Wojcicki was proud to be the first female
tech exec recognized at the bi-annual ceremony. “As the first woman coming
from Silicon Valley for this award, it’s a little intimidating, but it’s
wonderful to be here and I really hope it’s an opportunity for these two parts
of California to work together more in the future,” she said.
Mega-producer Ryan
Murphy took the podium to welcome Gwyneth Paltrow, who he revealed is his
child’s godmother.
“As a younger gay, I was
also obsessed with the legend of Gwyneth,” he said, referring to her red carpet
glamour in the ’90s and many Vogue covers. “But having known her now for 10
years, the thing that resonates with me the most is that none of these things
are preoccupied with image or success when it comes to this lady.”
SEE
MORE:Ashley Judd Reveals Sexual Harassment by Studio Mogul (EXCLUSIVE)
Paltrow, who spoke of
her charitable work with L.A. Kitchen, spoke of the times Murphy mentioned,
recalling when she was urged not to use SAT words during interviews because
career-driven and intelligent women were seen as “ambitious” — and that was a
bad thing. Giving kudos to powerful women who have recently shared their
experiences of being women in Hollywood such as Meryl Streep, Viola Davis,
Patricia Arquette and Ashley Judd, who bravely revealed her own sexual
abuse by a studio mogul, Paltrow said, “Today, the power of women
rings a bit differently and you can feel the shift.”
“I believe that we are
on the verge of creating a new archetype,” Paltrow said, adding that it is now
possible to be a woman who is “ambitious, while being a woman who is nurturing,
maternal, sexual and for other women.”
The audience applauded
as Paltrow spoke of supporting other women. And she made sure to give
a nod to the pioneering woman who was the talk of the event: Oprah — or as
Paltrow said it best, “The original trailblazer, the mother of us all.” Varity.com
