Lady Gaga and Letitia Wright used their awards speeches to talk about mental health and it was perfect
Winners at the Baftas and Grammys used their platform to shout out important causes last night.
Musicians and filmmakers took the opportunity to call out the US-Mexico border crisis, gender inequality and the detainment of rapper 21 Savage (although not Post Malone, who forgot to mention him for the song they collaborated on).
But two powerful speeches stood out by Letitia Wright and Lady Gaga, who both opened up about mental health.
Wright was awarded the prestigious Rising Star prize, previously won by Daniel Kaluuya and Tom Holland, and spoke about how she was “in a deep state of depression” and almost quit acting a few years ago.
The Black Panther went on to thank her family and her faith in God, and encouraged anyone who is struggling with their health to keep going.
She said:
I want to encourage young people. You don't even have to be young, you can be any age, but I want to encourage you - anyone going through a hard time or something in their soul or they’ve lost their light... I want to encourage you that God made you and you're important.
There might be some of you here who’s going through depression, who’s going through a bad time and you’re putting on a smile on your face and nobody can see that… I just want to encourage you and I want to say that God loves you. Just let your light shine.
At the Grammys, Lady Gaga used her acceptance speech for “Shallow” from A Star Is Born to draw attention to mental health issues.
In the emotional speech, she called on artists in the music industry to “take care of each other”.
If you see somebody that’s hurting, don’t look away. And if you’re hurting, even though it might be hard, try to find that bravery within yourself to dive deep and go tell somebody and take them up in your head with you.
Mental health has been a major issue in the music industry over the last few years, with the deaths of artists such as Avicii, Lil Peep and Mac Miller highlighting the problem.
The two stars were praised across social media for their openness.
From mental health campaigners:
To politicians:
Both speeches were perfect examples of how award shows can be a force for good.