Michaela Coel is now an Emmy winner. The I May Destroy You writer, director, actress and producer took home a statuette in the best writing for a limited series category today in Los Angeles. Coel’s painstakingly honest portrait of her own experience with sexual assault – and its heartbreaking aftermath – was subject to uproar earlier this year when the Golden Globes failed to give the series the recognition it so rightfully deserved.
In her speech, Coel called upon writers to “write the tale that scares you, that makes you feel uncertain, that is uncomfortable. I dare you — in a world that entices us to browse through the lives of others to help us better determine how we feel about ourselves, and to in turn feel the need to be constantly visible, for visibility these days seems to somehow equate to success — do not be afraid to disappear from it, from us for a while, and see what comes to you in the silence.”
Coel dedicated her award to “every single survivor of sexual assault.” Watch the moment below.
Just one week after she (literally) shone in an electric blue body suit by Balenciaga at the 2021 Met Gala in New York City, the 33-year-old served up some neon glory at the 2021 Emmy Awards red carpet.
Gliding down the carpet outside LA Live, Coel – in a chartreuse-hued pencil skirt, crop and train by New York designer Christopher John Rogers – stopped every so often to pose for photographers, her jewellery-clad hands resting in front of her. (Seriously, calling all jewellery sponsors. Coel has got the diamond shot down pat.)
We just couldn’t take our eyes off her, and are so glad she won this evening.
More to come.
