Pink received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at Sunday’s MTV VMAs, an honour recognising her accomplishment in music.
But instead of discussing her career or thanking those who had been instrumental in her success, she decided to highlight a far more important topic…
The 37-year-old used her moment commanding the stage to discuss the time her daughter told her she felt ugly because she looks “like a boy.” Of course, her six-year-old daughter, Willow, was in attendance at the awards show — sporting a killer three piece suit that matched her famous parents, no less.
“She said to me out of the blue, ‘Mama, I’m the ugliest girl I know,’ ” Pink said. “And I said, ‘Huh?’ And she said, ‘Yeah, I look like a boy with long hair.’ And my brain went to, ‘Oh my God, you’re six. Where is this coming from? Can I kick a six-year-old’s (butt)?’ “
Instead of dismissing the upsetting comments as ‘a phase,’ the singer-songwriter decided to create a PowerPoint presentation. The slideshow featured androgynous rock stars like David Bowie, Annie Lennox, and Prince who “live their truth, are probably made fun of every day of their life, and carry on and wave their flag.”
The mother-of-two was looked overjoyed to have her little daughter by her side.
The singer-songwriter’s husband and Willow’s dad, Carey Hart, was also in attendance.
She also included herself in the lineup — choosing to lead by example — explaining that many have commented on her “masculine” appearance or “strong” body.
“I said, ‘When people make fun of me, that’s what they use: They say I look like a boy or I’m too masculine or I have too many opinions or that my body is too strong,” Pink said. “And I said, ‘Do you see me growing my hair?’ And she said, ‘No, mama.’ ‘Do you see me changing my body?’ ‘No, mama.’ ‘Do you see me changing the way I present myself to the world?’ ‘No, mama.’ ‘Do you see me selling out arenas all over the world?’ ‘Yes, mama.’
“So, baby girl, we don’t change,” she continued. “We take the gravel in the shell and we make a pearl. And we help other people to change so that they can see more kinds of beauty.”
She added: “And you, my darling girl, are beautiful. I love you.”
Ooft. Would somebody please pass the tissues?
