Cynthia Erivo, Emilia Clarke, Suki Waterhouse, Emma Corrin and Hannah Waddingham took center stage at Variety‘s inaugural Power of Women London, presented by Lifetime, as the five women reflected on their careers, the importance of community and the causes they champion.
Held Wednesday at the Chancery Rosewood Hotel and hosted by “Saturday Night Live U.K.” cast member Ania Magliano, the event began with Waterhouse’s performance of her new single, “Back in Love.” Variety publisher and co-president Dea Lawrence gave opening remarks, touting London as “arguably the biggest entertainment hub outside the United States,” followed by Variety co-editors-in-chief Cynthia Littleton and Ramin Setoodeh.
Clarke, the evening’s first honoree, talked about her recovery after she suffered two brain hemorrhages at 22 and 24 when she was starring on “Game of Thrones”: “Fifteen years after my first bleed, I have the hindsight to see how difficult that time truly was. I never had the chance to reflect on what my two brain traumas had done to me.”
She continued, “What about my anxiety? Surely that is normal, working in our image-obsessed industry? Breaking a rib after filming a sex scene? Well, maybe that was his fault. But sometimes even blacking out after long night shoots, the pain all over my body, I didn’t even think I should find out why. I just put it down as stress in my non-stop work schedule.”
“Disclosure Day” star Josh O’Connor introduced Corrin as the next honoree, recalling how the two met when Corrin was brought in to be a reader for “The Crown” auditions: “The producers were an entire season away from even thinking about who might play Princess Diana, and yet by the end of the first audition, that camera was spinning firmly in Emma’s direction.”
“It’s incredibly meaningful to be here tonight amongst such inspiring women using their voices and platforms with such purpose,” Corrin said. “I’m doubly honored to be here tonight as the first non-binary recipient of the award. I think it’s crucial now, more than ever that no matter how we identify, we’re able to come together and support each other. So much change can be affected by these networks of mutual support.”
Lawrence surprised the crowd by presenting the Power of Women Icon of the Year award to Dame Joan Collins, who reflected on her successful career as a performer and producer: “I discovered that to survive in this business and to thrive, you have to show which women are needed to reinvent themselves. We have to reinvent ourselves time and time again.”
Collins also teased her upcoming film, “My Duchess,” in which she plays Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor: “It’s in the last nine years of her life when she was a strong and powerful woman at the beginning, but her strength and her power were totally destroyed by, sadly, another woman. I think it shows a lot of what is going on in the world, which is elder abuse.”
Upon taking the stage again, Waterhouse reflected on her newfound experience as a mother: “Becoming a mom has humbled my entire being. I really feel a connection to all women and my horizons — and my heart — have just exploded. I think to my childhood and I marvel at the grace and level-headedness of my mother, who’s here tonight. She raised four absolutely terrorizing children. Women are often complimented as selfless, but I am glad to have had an example of a mum who gave so much to her family and also continued to give to herself, always learning, working.”
“Ted Lasso” star Waddingham reflected on how the conversation around powerful women in the industry should go beyond strength: “You see us front-facing, you see us strong, you see us glamorous in whatever way. You see us falling apart when we’re meant to on camera, or on a stage, you see all those sides. But it’s the quiet part that we have to support. Myself and Cynthia [Erivo] have supported each other a lot, both in theater and on screen, when we’ve had really difficult days.”
After being introduced by Edward Enninful, British Vogue’s former editor-in-chief, Erivo was the last honoree of the night. She used her speech to reflect on her charity work for LGBTQ+ organizations and addressed how fans responded to the clip that went viral from a video paired with Variety‘s recent cover story, in which she declined to talk about “Wicked.”
“All of a sudden, I am a woman who is degrading the project that put me where I am and I should be more grateful. Now please don’t get me wrong, there have been those who appreciated my candor, however the former made me think about what it actually means to be a powerful woman — what it costs, who gets to embody it fully, and who has to bury a little of themselves so as not to offend,” she said. “I think we’ve fallen in love with the concept of the powerful woman, but in reality, we seldom celebrate or raise up a woman when she claims her power, steps into it and uses it.”
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