Zoe Saldaña on Getting Candid about Dyslexia in Golden Globes Speech (Exclusive)

On Sunday, Zoe Saldaña won a Golden Globe for her supporting role in “Emilia Pérez.”

During her acceptance speech, Zoe told the audience, “I know I don’t have much time. And I have dyslexia, so I tend to forget when I’m really anxious and I’m filled with adrenaline.”

She told Mel, “I think that was the reason why I was having so much anxiety, you know, days, coming up to this award ceremony… I know that when adrenaline kicks in and nerves kick in, you stop breathing and you just go blank. I was just so afraid of not recognizing people, acknowledging people onstage that are responsible for me being, you know, where I am. I’m very hard on myself so I take responsibility for everything that I do, so it was that. This morning, I got so many messages from loved ones, saying, ‘Let it all go and just breathe and be in the moment and speak from truth’ and I did and all of a sudden, the words came.”

It was an emotional moment for Zoe, who commented, “I just want to feel all the feels. Life is too short and it’s too fleeting, and I feel like it’s really exhausting to containing so much of yourself all the time, and every now and then, you just want to be you.”

On stage, Saldaña made sure to thank her “Emilia Pérez” co-stars Selena Gomez and Karla Sofía Gascón. She noted, “It’s a competition, like I said onstage, but that’s not what’s been driving me and that is not the first and last thing that resonates in all of this. It’s the human connection, it’s the artistic connection, and it’s the female connection that I’ve been making throughout this entire season.”

She emphasized, “It’s so exhausting to isolate yourself and live apart when in reality, we are better together, we’re stronger and we’re more supportive and we celebrate each other… I feel like every woman I have met this entire season but also throughout my time here in this industry has always ignited that essence in me, so I can’t ever say that I was ever, you know, met with someone that just wasn’t, just generous.”

Saldaña has been “flooded with messages” from her loved ones after the win. She promised, “By tomorrow morning, I will reply to each and every one of you.”

Zoe has been seen in some major blockbuster movies, but she doesn’t believe that she was boxing herself in. She explained, “I was following my heart and I was just picking projects and working with filmmakers that were incredible… In addition to all of those great gifts that I was given in my career, to explore all these genres, I was still yearning for me and I’m just so happy that I was able to manifest something with the universe and the universe spoke back to me.”