“Succession” Actress Sarah Snook Credits Her Success To Her Unborn Child In Viral Emmy Speech

The award-winning HBO show “Succession” came to a close in 2023 after just four dramatic seasons. It won multiple Emmys, with Kieran Culkin, Matthew McFayden, and Sarah Snook taking home awards for their incredible work in the series. One of the most memorable moments of the night was Snook accepting her award and thanking one person who is a bit too young to fully grasp the importance of this moment.

Sarah Snook thanked her daughter, who was still in her womb during the filming of the fourth and final season. "The biggest thank you goes to someone who won't understand anything that I'm saying at the moment, but I carried her with me in this last season. And really, it was her who carried me," she said, fighting back tears. 

"It's very easy to act when you're pregnant because you've got hormones raging," Snook continued. "It was the proximity of her life growing inside me that gave me the strength to do this and this performance. And I love you so much. And from here on out, it’s all for you. Thank you." 

It was an emotionally raw moment of gratitude from a mother who managed to play one of the coldest, most calculated characters in the show.

Sarah Snook’s Celebration of Motherhood Differs Greatly from Her Character Shiv Roy

Snook displayed a sweet femininity that captured the internet and went viral, which is ironic considering the character she played was the complete opposite. Toxic femininity can manifest in various ways: women competing with each other in harmful ways, using beauty as a means of manipulation, demanding special treatment under the guise of historical oppression, or engaging in behaviors that are generally considered destructive or unethical, such as infidelity. The fictional character of Siobhan Roy from Succession displays numerous traits that exemplify this concept.

Shiv's interactions with her husband, Tom Wambsgans, are particularly illustrative of toxic femininity. Throughout the series, she engages in emotional manipulation and infidelity, all the while maintaining a facade of commitment and love. She demands an open marriage immediately after their wedding, a move that highlights her manipulative tendencies. Shiv's behavior towards Tom includes public humiliation, emotional abuse, and a disregard for his feelings and well-being.

Apart from her marital dynamics, Shiv also exhibits toxic traits in her interactions with her siblings. In the cutthroat environment of her family business, she does not hesitate to betray her brothers, demonstrating a ruthless ambition and willingness to harm her family members for personal gain. This is evident in her actions against her brother Kendall, where she publicly exposes his personal struggles and addictions, crossing ethical and familial boundaries for her own benefit.

Shiv’s relationship with her femininity is complex and contradictory. On one hand, she leverages her feminine traits – such as beauty and charm – to manipulate situations in her favor. On the other hand, she often rejects or downplays aspects of her femininity, especially when they conflict with her professional ambitions or personal desires. This is evident in her reluctance to embrace her pregnancy or express vulnerability, even in the face of personal tragedy or physical injury. For Shiv, her pregnancy is a weapon – merely a tool to help her get ahead in the game, and she made it clear that she has no intention of being there for the child. She plans on hiring help to do all the heavy lifting and diaper changing so she can exclusively focus on her career. This kind of image of motherhood and feminism is all too common in Hollywood movies and TV shows. It’s funny that the very woman who plays this role so well is willing to speak up about the beauty of motherhood on stage at the Emmys.

Sarah Snook’s Acceptance Speech Brought a Different Message

Not only are we accustomed to seeing characters like Shiv Roy, but we’re also used to seeing actresses accept an award and insist that their success hinges on something very different than the life growing inside them. They claim that they never would have been able to be so successful if they hadn’t intentionally killed the child in their womb.

At the Golden Globe Awards in 2020, Michelle Williams, who was expecting at the time, delivered a viral acceptance speech after winning Best Actress for her portrayal of Gwen Verdon in the FX mini-series Fosse/Verdon. Her speech was not just a moment of personal triumph; she used it as a time to advocate for abortion rights. Williams claimed that women deserve the chance to make choices about their body and their life, equating choice with the intentional killing of a human life.

"As women and as girls, things can happen to our bodies that are not our choice. I've tried my best to live a life of my own making, and not just a series of events that happened to me," she said. "And I wouldn't have been able to do this without employing a woman's right to choose. To choose when to have my children and with whom." 

"I know my choices might look different, but thank God or whomever you pray to, that we live in a country founded on the principle that I am free to live by my faith and you are free to live by yours," Williams continued. "Women, 18 to 118, when it is time to vote, please do so in your own self-interest. It's what men have been doing for years." 

The cameras showed Busy Philipps, a known advocate for abortion access and open discussion about women's experiences with abortion, visibly moved and nearly in tears. Williams was praised by essentially all of Hollywood for her speech and her fervent support of abortion. Multiple celebrities came out to say how brave Williams was for her words. It’s interesting that Williams chose to celebrate the intentional ending of her child’s life rather than honoring the current life growing inside her, like Snook did. This is exactly what Hollywood does, though. They turn things upside down and make wrong seem right and right seem wrong. While Snook’s celebration of life may seem like common sense to so many of us, we have to remember that this never happens in Hollywood. Celebrities would rather celebrate the death of unborn babies rather than acknowledge their worth.

Closing Thoughts

Snook’s speech made waves for a reason: She chose to express gratitude for the most important thing in her life while also making it clear to women that you don’t have to kill your unborn baby in order to be successful or fulfilled. Later that night, Kieran Culkin accepted his Emmy and thanked his wife for giving him two beautiful children, also asking her to get pregnant and have more. The crowd erupted with laughter, as did his wife, but it was a pure moment of love that proved Culkin values his children as much as his career. Yet again, something we’re sadly not used to witnessing in the throes of Hollywood. Let’s hope we see much more like it in the future.

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