Earlier this week, Oscar-winning actress and acclaimed filmmaker Angelina Jolie published a remarkably candid and moving op-ed in The New York Times detailing her decision to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes, two years after she underwent a preventative double mastectomy. Jolie said she went through with the surgery because her mother, aunt, and grandmother died of cancer, and she carried the BRCA1 gene, which poses a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer. “It is not possible to remove all risk, and the fact is I remain prone to cancer,” Jolie wrote. “I will look for natural ways to strengthen my immune system. I feel feminine, and grounded in the choices I am making for myself and my family. I know my children will never have to say, ‘Mom died of ovarian cancer.’”
On Saturday night, Jolie made her first public appearance since the story went up, attending the Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards with daughters Shiloh, 8, and Zahara, 10, to accept the Favorite Villain award for her cheekbone-y turn as the title character in Maleficent. And, amid a rowdy night filled with shrieks, pies, and lots of sliming, Jolie brought the house down with an empowering speech to children everywhere.
Once her name was announced, she hugged her daughters and moseyed up the stage steps to the microphone, accepting her orange blimp trophy and unleashing a massive smile. “Thank you so much to all the kids who voted,” she said.
“I want to say that when I was little, like Maleficent, I was told that I was different,” continued Jolie. “And I felt out of place—too loud, too full of fire, never good at sitting still, never good at fitting in. And then one day I realized something—something that I hope you all realize. Different is good. When someone tells you that you are different, smile and hold your head up and be proud”—she then winked at the crowd, adding—“cause a little trouble… it’s good for you.”And with that, a bunch of slime splattered all over a group of random, unsuspecting kids to loud screams and applause from the crowd of tweens.