Alex Borstein’s Powerful Emmys Speech Included Holocaust Survivor & Immigrant Stories

As she accepted her second supporting actress Emmy win for her portrayal of comedy manager Susie on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Alex Borstein shared an inspiring story of how her grandmother survived the Holocaust.

After joking that she was not wearing underwear on stage after going braless at the 2018 Emmys, Borstein got suddenly serious.

The Amazon star — who attended the show with her longtime Family Guy co-star and friend Seth MacFarlane — dedicated her Emmy to “the strength of a woman,” citing her Marvelous Mrs. Maisel co-creator Amy Sherman-Palladino as well as her mother and grandmother. Both Borstein’s mother and grandmother are survivors of the Holocaust.

“My grandmother turned to a guard. She was in line to be shot into a pit, and she said, ‘What happens if I step out of line?’ [The guard] said, ‘I don’t have the heart to shoot you, but somebody will,’” Borstein shared with the crowd. “And she stepped out of line, and for that, I am here.”

The actress raised her Emmy and implored to the women in the audience to also “step out of line,” to cheers from the crowd. 

This isn’t the first time Borstein has talked about being inspired by the women in her family. 

“I grew up with very strong female role models,” she said in a May 2018 interview with The Wrap. “My mother is a powerhouse, but also very feminine and ladylike. My grandmother was a Holocaust survivor, a survivor in every sense of the word. Then there are some women I’ve come across in the entertainment industry — agents, managers, club bookers. There’s a little bit of all of them in there, but Susie is her own person.”

Borstein’s Emmy win followed Marvelous Mrs. Maisel co-star Tony Shalhoub’s win in the supporting actor category. The actor took the stage to thank the show’s creators, Daniel Palladino and Sherman-Palladino, for their contributions in writing, producing, and directing the series.