Another day, another reason to be completely obsessed with Michelle Yeoh! On the latest episode of the Los Angeles Times’s The Envelope podcast, the actor opened up about dealing with people who were telling her to retire from acting juuuuust prior to her accepting the lead role in the Daniels' film Everything Everywhere All at Once.
“You know, as you get older, the roles get smaller,” Michelle mused on the podcast. “It seems like the numbers go up and these things go narrow and then you start getting relegated to the side more and more. So when Everything Everywhere came…it was very emotional because this means that you are the one who’s leading this whole process, who’s telling the story.” The actor continued, “You know, as you get older, people start saying, ‘Oh yeah, you should retire. You should do this. You should…’ No, guys. Do not tell me what to do. I should be in control of what I am capable of, right?”
Thankfully, Michelle followed her own intuition because not only did she completely crush the role of Evelyn Wang, but since the film's release, the actor has earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actress and won Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical, or Comedy at the 2023 Golden Globes. Everything Everywhere All at Once also raked in over $100 million at the worldwide box office, making it A24’s highest-grossing movie of all time.
“The first thing is you feel like, ‘Finally, thank you. You guys see me, you guys really see, and you’re giving me the opportunity to show that I’m capable of doing all this,’” Michelle added about the movie’s almost immediate success. “As an actor, you need the opportunity. You need the role that will help you showcase what you are capable to do.”
During her Golden Globes acceptance speech earlier this year, Michelle also reflected on the gratitude she felt while playing her character, saying, “I was given this gift of playing this woman who resonated so deeply with me and with so many people. Because at the end of the day, in whatever universe she was at, she was just fighting, fighting for love for her family.”
Moral of the story? Don't ever let the haters win.
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This article originally appeared on Cosmopolitan.com. Minor edits have been made by the Cosmo.ph editors.