The Cairns Post

P!nk gets personal

STAR GRABS SPOTLIGHT AT MTV AWARDS SHOW WITH SPEECH ON DAUGHTER’S BODY IMAGE WORRIES

- KATHY MCCABE

Superstar P!nk proved perfect at the MTV Music Video Awards, slaying the stage and then hearts with an inspiring speech dedicated to her six-year-old daughter Willow (right). While the VMAs were big on politics and light on entertainm­ent, P!nk got personal with her body imagetheme­d speech to accept the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, making a PowerPoint presentati­on showing androgynou­s stars who “inspire the rest of us”.

SUPERSTAR P!nk proved perfect at the MTV Music Video Awards, slaying the stage and then hearts with an inspiring speech dedicated to her six-year-old daughter Willow.

While the VMAs were big on politics and light on entertainm­ent, P!nk got personal with her body image-themed speech to accept the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.

After a spectacula­r medley of her hits, the chart-topper shared the story of her daughter remarking recently she was the “ugliest person I know” because the little girl looks “like a boy with long hair”.

Instead of getting mad, the Raise Your Glass singer made a PowerPoint presentati­on for her daughter, showing androgynou­s stars including Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Elton John, Annie Lennox and others who “are probably made fun of every day of their lives, and carry on, and wave their flag, and inspire the rest of us”.

P!nk also told her daughter the pop star had remained true to herself against criticism for her short hair, strong body and even stronger opinions.

“We don’t change. We take the gravel in the shell and make a pearl,” she said, ending her speech by telling her adorable child: “You, my darling girl, are beautiful.”

The night’s biggest winner Kendrick Lamar, who finished with six Moon Men trophies, opened the show with an incendiary performanc­e before host Katy Perry struggled through the first of a series of trainwreck skits.

Perry’s absent nemesis Taylor Swift briefly stole proceeding­s with the premiere of her controvers­ial music video for Look What You Made Me Do.

Reaction was swift online with Swift copping social media shade for the video’s alleged mocking of Kim Kardashian’s Paris robbery drama.

America’s pop stars and famous faces used the stage to protest against racism and spotlight suicide prevention.

Thirty Seconds To Mars frontman Jared Leto paid tribute to late rockers Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington, Kesha spoke from the heart after her struggles and rapper Logic shared a stage with people who had survived suicide attempts while he performed his hit 1-800-273-8255, which is the number for the US National Suicide Prevention Hotline.

Aspiring entertaine­r Paris Jackson called out white supremacis­ts, while Reverend Robert Wright Lee IV, a descendant of Confederat­e general Robert E. Lee, made an impassione­d statement against violence which recently erupted in Charlottes­ville, Virginia.

He introduced Susan Bro, mother of Heather Heyer who was killed when a Unite The Right supporter drove into anti-racist protesters in Charlottes­ville, to announce a scholarshi­p “to help more people join Heather’s fight against hatred”.

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 ?? Picture: GETTY IMAGES ?? FAMILY FOCUS: Singer P!nk with husband Carey Hart and their daughter Willow Sage at the MTV Video Music Awards.
Picture: GETTY IMAGES FAMILY FOCUS: Singer P!nk with husband Carey Hart and their daughter Willow Sage at the MTV Video Music Awards.

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