At last, his moment has arrived! After eight years and eight nominations, newly single Jon Hamm finally won the Emmy Award for Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his now-iconic portrayal of Don Draper in Mad Men. He also took his big moment at the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards to graciously thank his ex-girlfriend Jennifer Westfeldt, from whom he recently split after 18 years together.
Hamm, 44, has been nominated in the category since Mad Men’s breakout season in 2007, but has previously lost to other actors in highly acclaimed shows including Friday Night Lights’ Kyle Chandler, Homeland‘s Damian Lewis, The Newsroom‘s Jeff Daniels, and Breaking Bad‘s Bryan Cranston.
“It’s impossible to have done this show without this incredible cast, these incredible people, this incredible crew…” Hamm said, adding that it was “incredibly impossible” not to include those who’ve made a personal impact on his everyday life.
“I want to thank the people to whom I owe this incredible debt,” Hamm noted. “Families — who have chosen for some reason to take me in and be nice to me along this strange, strange road.”
The actor then rattled off a list of names in his speech, and in the final moments gave an affectionate shout-out to “Cora and Jen.”
“Jen,” as his fans know, was Hamm’s girlfriend and partner-in-crime for nearly two decades. “Cora,” meanwhile, is his dog.
“Thank you all very much,” Hamm concluded on Sunday with the Emmy gripped in his hand. “I would not be standing here without you.”
Hamm and Westfeldt announced that they were splitting earlier this month in a joint statement. “With great sadness, we have decided to separate, after 18 years of love and shared history,” Hamm and Westfeldt told Us Weekly in their statement. “We will continue to be supportive of each other in every way possible moving forward.”
A source exclusively told Us at the time that the nontraditional pair “definitely tried” to work out their differences. (Westfeldt even stood by Hamm through his rehab stint this past spring.)
However, another source close to the star said “there’s always been a rift” between the couple, “because he wanted kids and she didn’t.”
Watch his speech above.