GWYNETH PALTROW AND JENNIFER LOPEZ HONORED AT THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER’S ANNUAL WOMEN IN ENTERTAINMENT GALA PRESENTED BY LIFETIME

The Hollywood Reporter (THR) hosted its annual Women in Entertainment Breakfast Gala at The Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles, honoring Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Lopez for their contributions and impact within the industry. The celebratory event, attended by 600 industry leaders and VIPs, and presented by Lifetime, awarded over $1 Million in scholarships for graduates of THR’s Women in Entertainment Mentorship Program. The Gala also coincided with the publication of The Hollywood Reporter’s annual Power 100 Women in Entertainment list, which recognizes the most powerful female leaders and changemakers in Hollywood, many of whom were in attendance.

Rachel Sennott opened the program, joking with the room: “you know you made it as a woman in Hollywood when one of three things happen…When people call every photoshoot you do a ‘humiliation ritual,’ when someone uses AI to make a video of you kissing a sloth from Zootopia or when you get asked to speak at a women’s brunch.”

Robert Downey Jr. presented Gwyneth Paltrow with the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award, which recognizes trailblazers and philanthropists in Hollywood. Paltrow was recognized for her immeasurable professional and philanthropic accomplishments. Previous recipients of the award include 2024 recipient Nicole Kidman, as well as Oprah Winfrey, Shonda Rhimes, Meryl Streep, Reese Witherspoon, Viola Davis, Barbra Streisand, Charlize Theron, and Adele.

In her acceptance speech, Paltrow credited her time at all-girls schools with teaching her to “revere good women — women who are smarter than I and more talented than I am, women who are expressive and really fearless” in both her acting and entrepreneurial career.

She continued, “My life thus so far has been so weird and rich and full of mysteries and heartbreaks and revelations and breakthroughs, so if I can be called a leader at all, I don’t think it’s because of anything I’ve achieved, but because I just kept declaring myself the whole way through at all costs, regardless of reactions or perceptions or misperceptions. I just keep trying to identify who I actually am at every stage and chapter, and living from that place in the truest way I know how. And many, many, times, the world has declared back to me that I’m not doing it right; that my ideas are too new, and that people would prefer me this way or that way. And yet I just keep declaring myself — as messy or surprising or controversial as it may be. I have felt a real sense of community this morning, a community that seems to be OK with me in all of my iterations and has welcomed me back.”

Kerry Washington presented Jennifer Lopez with the Equity in Entertainment Award, which recognizes individuals who amplify the voices of underrepresented communities in film and television. Previous recipients have included 2024 recipient Selena Gomez, as well as Kerry Washington, Issa Rae, Selma Blair, Ryan Murphy, and Nina Jacobson.

Lopez said, “Equity in entertainment is a relay, I think. You know, someone hands you a story, a role, an opportunity, and you pass it forward hopefully farther, and in my very flawed and human in a human way, I have tried to be intentional and honor…Benny Medina did that for me with Selena. He took a huge risk and changed my life…And I remember that when I’m advocating for stories that reflect our multifaceted realities, pushing for inclusivity that goes beyond tokenism and fostering authentic connection and understanding, trying hard to ensure our screens reflect the kaleidoscope of human experience where no one is relegated to the program. We did that boldly decades before we had phrases like representation matters.”

Jimmy Kimmel Live! Head Writer and Executive Producer Molly McNearney delivered the breakfast’s keynote address. In her remarks, she acknowledged that the First Amendment right to freedom of speech was something she didn’t really have to think about until the show was suspended earlier this year, telling the crowd: “It’s something I took for granted. Something I thought I’d always have, like my period. Did you guys know that those just stop? Your period stops. And it turns out your freedom in this country can too. We experienced it most recently in 2022 when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and we got another taste of it two months ago. I watched a show, co-workers, friends and the man I love be put on ‘indefinite suspension’ after our thin-skinned president asked for his removal and his FCC chair publicly threatened the company we work for. It is a fragile time for freedom.”

Jimmy Kimmel was in attendance to introduce McNearney. In his introductory remarks, he joked, “no one — not the FCC, not ABC standards and practices, not even President Trump himself — has taken more action to infringe upon and forcibly limit my speech than Molly McNearney.”

Goldie Hawn and Sarah Paulson led a tribute to Diane Keaton, who passed away earlier this year. In remembrance of her close friend and The First Wives Club co-star, Hawn said, “[Keaton was] like a little lightning bug. She would fly up over here and you’d go try to catch her. [But] she was on a journey. She never looked back, and she was a pure, pure, whatever you wanna call it, you call it stars or — I think that she is a star. We can have a fantasy; what I do is that stars are really people who died a long time ago. They did something really good for the world. I think maybe it’s where she is right now.”

Paulson ended her remarks by sharing a touching email she wishes she could send to Keaton today, saying “Dear Dum-Dum, I wanna tell you I’m sorry my voicemail was always full. I want to tell you I’m sorry I wasn’t available every time you called. I want to tell you how much crummier the world is without you in it. I want to tell you everything that happened in my life in the 54 days since you left. I want to tell you how the world lost its mind with grief the day you died. And I want to tell you, I will miss you forever and I continue to be a moron, and I know that you would be heartened to know that. But most of all, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for being my friend, Sarah Paulson, actress.”

Dakota Johnson and One Battle After Another stars Chase Infiniti and Regina Hall presented three full-ride university scholarships to high school seniors currently participating in THR’s pioneering Women in Entertainment Mentorship Program. All three scholarships – two to Chapman University and one to Loyola Marymount University – were underwritten by The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation. This is the tenth year TCLFF has underwritten scholarships for the program. To date, TCLFF has supported 18 underrepresented graduates from THR’s Women in Entertainment Mentorship Program with full-ride college scholarships at LMU and Chapman with a 100% graduation rate.

Lifetime continued their support of the mentorship program, providing a $10,000 scholarship to each graduating mentee towards a college of their choice.

In total, over $1 million in scholarships were presented.

Casey Wasserman, through the Wasserman Foundation’s Edie Wasserman Women in Hollywood Fund, named after his grandmother, generously provided each graduating mentee with a new Apple MacBook Air.

Dany Garcia and Seven Bucks Productions also provided a new Apple MacBook Air to each member of the incoming mentee class of 2026.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Mentorship Program pairs some of the brightest high school girls from underserved communities in Los Angeles with some of the most powerful female executives in film and TV. The program is a joint venture between THR and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles, and is a fiscally sponsored fund of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF). 285 students have taken part in the program, with THR raising more than $15 million in university scholarships for mentees over the past 16 years.

YouTube’s Chief Business Officer Mary Ellen Coe spoke on-stage about empowering women as storytellers, saying, “Over the past 4 years, we’ve invested more than $100 billion in the creative community. We are constantly innovating so more creators can be financially rewarded by doing

what they love. Supporting these businesses is especially personal to me, as I grew up in a family that

founded a small business. I saw first hand what it’s like to have a dream — and the drive — to make that a reality. Just like so many of the creators and artists who find their start on YouTube.”

THR’s Women in Entertainment event is presented by Lifetime, which has been one of the mentorship program’s biggest supporters, having contributed nearly $2 million in scholarships over the past nine years. The event is also sponsored by Delta Air Lines, Medicube, Reyka Vodka, Seven Bucks Productions and WME and in partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles, Entertainment Industry Foundation, Gersh, Chapman University and Loyola Marymount University.

The event was attended by some of Hollywood’s most prolific and notable actors, filmmakers, and industry executives including Sherry Lansing, Andie MacDowell, Amy Gravitt, Amy Reisenbach, Anna Cathcart, Bella Poarch, Bella Thorne, Brittany Broski, Dana Goldberg, Daria Cercek, Diane Warren, Gina Balian, Hannah Minghella, Holly Bario, Jake Shane, Jenny Han, Jinny Howe, Jordan Firstman, Justine Lupe, Karen Pittman, Karey Burke, Katherine Burke, Kathryn Busby, Kira Goldberg, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Lake Bell, Lauren Neustadter, Leanne Morgan, Liz Garbus, Madelaine Petsch, Mamie Gummer, McKenna Grace, Michelle Lee, Nicole Brown, Nicole Sexton, Nikki Glaser, Nina Jacobson, Odessa A’zion, Olivia Munn, Rachel Zoe, Robbie Brenner, Sandra Stern, Selma Blair, Sharon Jackson, Simran Sethi, Susan Downey, Tara Duncan, Tracey Pakosta, True Whitaker, Yvonne Orji, and many more.