Letitia Wright thanks God in emotional speech as she opens up on depression battle
Letitia Wright made an impassioned speech when she took to the stage to accept her BAFTA Rising Star Award. She used her time on the stage at the Royal Albert Hall to show her gratitude to God who she thanked eight times and reveal her personal struggles. As the audience looked on, the Black Panther actress explained that her success didn’t come overnight and that she almost gave up acting when she became depressed.
“I identify myself as a child of God and I can’t get up here without thanking God. A few years ago I saw myself in a deep state of depression and I literally wanted to quit acting,” the British actress began.
Revealing what made her change her mind, Wright continued to tell the audience: “The only thing that pulled me out of it was God, my belief, my faith and my family, and an email from Bafta asking me to become part of the Bafta breakthrough Brits. I was like: ‘Let me try again’. So this wasn’t an overnight thing, this wasn’t a click of a finger success, and I’m still a work in progress, but I want to thank God, my family, my team… “I want to thank everybody who said yes to me, that gave me a chance, and just saw my talent and saw what God placed in me, and said ‘yes’.”
“I want to encourage young people. You don’t have to be young, you can be any age, but I want to encourage you – anyone going through a hard time… God made you and you’re important, there might be some of you here who might be going through a hard time.
“I just want to encourage you and God loves you. Just let your light shine and the category I’m in… this means so much to me, you guys all inspire me. All of you have inspired me so much, so God bless you, thank you, Jesus thank you, thank you.” As Letitia finished her speech and made her way off the stage, the audience applauded the star.
Speaking to members of the press after she picked up her award, the actress explained why she said what she did in front of everyone.
Admitting that she hadn’t prepared anything beforehand, Letitia commented: “I didn’t write anything, I just thought, if I were to win I’d just speak from my heart. I knew that I was struggling with stuff that many people in the industry were struggling with and are hiding away from and not opening up and telling people about. Whether it be sadness, depression, thinking they’re not good enough and not allowing their light to shine within them.
“That was my opportunity to say it to them, that ‘Hey, I see you and I understand what you’re going through’. This looks great, a red carpet and a nice dress looks great. But people on the inside are feeling sad and they’re feeling broken, so how can I encourage them tonight?” However, Letitia also confessed that she forgot to thank her mum and dad when she was on the stage accepting her award.
Photo: Letitia Wright with her EE Rising Star Bafta in the press room at the 72nd British Academy Film Awards held at the Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, Kensington, London on Sunday. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo.
Tags: actress, Bafta, BAFTA Rising Star Award, Christian, depression, film Black Panther, God, Letitia Wright