Jamie Lee Curtis said she will honor her transgender and nonbinary daughter by using they/them pronouns to refer to the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award statuette she won for her role in Best Picture winner Everything Everywhere All at Once.
In an interview with TODAY hosts Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie, Curtis, who once said she'd “watched in wonder and pride as our son became our daughter Ruby," also spoke about how she feels since winning one of the most coveted awards in the film industry.
You can hear what she said in the video below.
When asked if she'd "named her" in reference to the Academy Award, Curtis replied:
“In support of my daughter Ruby, I’m having them be a they/them. I’m just gonna call them they/them and they are doing great. They’re settling in."
“In my life, I never thought in a million years that I would have these couple days, and I’m very moved by the whole thing.”
Curtis also spoke about how her decision to dedicate her Academy Award to her parents, the late actors Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, who were best known for their respective roles in the classic films Psycho and Some Like It Hot.
She said:
"They've been my beautiful shadow my whole life. It was always — they walked in the room before I did anytime I went anywhere, and I always understood and accepted it with the grace I tried to."
"They were both nominated for Oscars and never won one."
Curtis—an industry stalwart who shot to fame for her leading role as Laurie Strode in 1978's Halloween and has had a long career starring in horror and genre films—has been over the moon by her win and made numerous posts on her Instagram.
In one post, she shared a doctored image of herself as Laurie Strode holding her award.
She also shared a picture of herself sitting for breakfast next to her pool with the award by her side.
Fans have been ecstatic about her win and celebrated what they see as the culmination of many years of strong work in Hollywood.
Curtis has received significant praise over the years for her political activism and she was asked after winning her award for her thoughts on the possibility of making gendered acting awards more inclusive.
Curtis addressed the pros and cons of degendered acting categories while expressing her desire for "gender parity in all the areas and branches" of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).
The actor acknowledged the question is "complicated" and noted efforts to degender acting categories could inadvertently end up costing women more recognition but said she aims to promote "inclusivity" and "more women" in general.
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