An emotional award. Kristen Bell was moved during the 2020 Critics’ Choice Awards in Santa Monica on Sunday, January 12. Ted Danson, who stars alongside the 39-year-old actress in NBC’s The Good Place, presented the #SeeHer Award to the star.
The Cheers alum, 72, highlighted Bell’s roles in The Good Place, Frozen and Veronica Mars in his opening remarks, before a reel of some of her biggest parts in played. “She’s become a voice of people who feel voiceless,” he added of his friend before welcoming her to the stage.
“Sometimes I do get asked, What does it mean to be a woman today? And I respond always by asking them to repeat the question so I can buy more time because it’s a really, really hard question,” the actress, 39, said at the Barker Hangar theater. “It is just about giving yourself permission to be the things that you really are, which seems very easy but it is not because women have been conditioned to fit into boxes.”
The Forgetting Sarah Marshall star also spoke about the complexity of her roles. “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 stated. “Nobody is just one thing. We are all all of the things. So thank you for this, the reminder to see her and see myself in total, the brave parts, and the cowardly parts and even the parts that cry at sloths.”
The #SeeHer award “recognizes a woman who embodies the values set forth by the SeeHer movement, to push boundaries on changing stereotypes and acknowledge the importance of authentic portrayals of women across the entertainment landscape,” the SeeHer organization said in a statement.
Ahead of the honor, the Veronica Mars alum opened up about Danson presenting her with the award. “He’s one of my best friends, it couldn’t mean more to me that he’s showing up,” Bell told KTLA on the blue carpet. “I think that the award is a very cool acknowledgment.”
Bell, who wore a bright green Cong Tri jumpsuit, Forevermark jewelry and Brian Atwood heels, joins past recipients Viola Davis, Gal Gadot and Claire Foy.
