Blake Lively’s People’s Choice Awards win is for ‘girl power’

Blake Lively says her People’s Choice Awards win is a step forward for "girl power".

The 29-year-old actress took home the gong for Favorite Dramatic Movie Actress for her performance in ‘The Shallows’ at the glitzy award ceremony on Wednesday (01.18.17), and she praised all the fans who voted for "sending a message to Hollywood" that women’s stories deserve to be heard.

During her acceptance speech, the blonde beauty – whose character Nancy Adams has to battle a great white shark on her own in the movie – admitted as a kid she was desperate to meet girl power pioneers the Spice Girls and although she has never achieved that dream she feels as though she is still promoting that message in her work.

She said: "[As a child] I set a goal for myself … and that was to meet the Spice Girls. I still haven’t accomplished that, but what was so neat about them is that they’re all so distinctly different, and they were women, and that was my first introduction to girl power.

"When you voted for this, you didn’t just vote for my movie or me, but you voted for girl power, it’s true! And men voted for girl power, too, and you guys are awesome for doing that.

"So thank you for sending a message to Hollywood that people want to hear stories about women, and we want to hear your stories."

Blake also took a moment to thank one particularly special man in her life, her husband Ryan Reynolds.

Speaking about the 40-year-old actor – with whom she shares two daughters, James, two, and three-month-old Ines – Blake said: "Thank you to my husband, who’s everything to me. You can’t have him! He’s mine!"

And the star rounded off her acceptance speech by rallying her female fans together, reassuring them that they are "valuable".

She said: "Now more than ever, you need to be heard, you are valuable, and no one can limit you."