Jennifer Coolidge provided graduates a heartfelt reminder that generally the world underestimates precisely these it shouldn’t.
Coolidge — identified for her humor and eccentric attraction — stayed true to type as she delivered a graduation speech to Emerson School graduates on Sunday. Returning to her alma mater, simply “40 miles down the road” from the place she grew up, the actor mirrored on the winding path that introduced her again — full with reminiscences of being missed, doubted and delightfully unusual.
“If you had told the kids that I grew up with that … one day I would have this opportunity like this, they would’ve laughed in your face,” she mentioned.
Coolidge mentioned she understood their disbelief — in any case, she remembers being a “very strange kid.”
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The actor pivoted and addressed the parental figures within the viewers: “To all the parents and caregivers in the audience that are worried about their kids succeeding, I just want to say: ‘Don’t.’”
The “Legally Blonde” star then shared a childhood reminiscence she described as “traumatizing.” She recounted the time on the finish of first grade when she was disqualified from her faculty’s subject day. She technically completed first — however forgot one minor element: finishing the impediment course that was a part of the problem.
“And then the teacher came up to me and told me that I didn’t win the blue ribbon because I was disqualified,” she mentioned. “And it turns out, I had skipped all of the obstacles. I just ran along the outside.”
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The story landed someplace between comedic and crushing — and, as laughter softened, the lesson settled in.
This misstep from her youth turned a metaphor for one thing bigger: the significance of charting your personal path, even when it doesn’t comply with the designated course. She admitted that for years she was haunted by others’ perceptions, however now sees that sensitivity not as a flaw however a energy — one typically shared by people who find themselves “better at stuff.”
She then addressed those that have ever been instructed they aren’t sufficient: “Don’t listen to the people who mess up the real story that you’ve got going.”
She urged every graduate to be their “own champion,” concluding: “It really doesn’t matter what anyone thinks or says. I mean, when it comes to the obstacle course of your life, you have to find your own path. And you can’t perfectly plan it out from the beginning. And part of directing your life is just letting it unfold.”
