Patti Smith Honors Lily Gladstone in First Event Since Hospitalization

Patti Smith had some touching words to share about Killers of the Flower Moon actress Lily Gladstone.

The beloved singer-songwriter made her first public appearance on Thursday night since her hospitalization last month and honored Gladstone at the National Board of Review Awards Gala, presenting her the award for Best Actress.

 “Thank you everybody. There’s a lotta you here. It’s a lot easier playing Madison Square Garden. But I’m very excited to be here,” Smith first told the crowd, which included the likes of Bradley Cooper and Martin Scorsese, according to People.

She then spoke about Gladstone’s performance in the Scorsese film. “It pierces the vein of human weakness, greed, cowardice, and betrayal,” she said of the film. “And what is more piercing than the face of Lily Gladstone as the camera captures the shifting tones of her interior process seamlessly embodying the courageous Mollie Burkhart?”

“Within the fabric of the film, even off-screen, Lily is like the new moon that can be felt, but not seen. She has always felt,” she continued.

Smith celebrated Gladstone’s prowess while playing her character in the recent film, for which Gladstone accepted the award for Best Actress in a Drama at the Golden Globes last week.

“As Mollie, Lily’s sense of the space around and the rushing energy of her own blood can be felt in every gesture, every side glance, in the lift of her head, in the folding of her hands, in the burgeoning illness that can be felt cell by cell that mirrors the afflictions imposed on her people coupled with her stamina to love, to heal, and quietly condemn,” she said.

Patti Smith was hospitalized in Bologna, Italy in mid-December due to a sudden illness, according to Italian news outlet TGCOM24. The 76-year-old musician was in the city to perform a concert at Teatro Duse, but the venue shared an Instagram Story announcing the cancellation of the show.

Smith later posted a statement about her health, and shared a photo with the medical team, thanking them for their support and help during her time in the hospital. “I am resting, as the doctor ordered, grateful to have had such care, though being painfully aware that many are not so fortunate,” she wrote.

Lily Gladstone recently spoke to Rolling Stone during a profile published Friday in which she opened up about Native representation on screen.

“I had a lot of time acclimating myself to the script. The Osage people have had their lives to understand this history,” Gladstone said. “The process of making this movie gave a lot of people a chance to speak. Ultimately, Osage reaction is what I care about the most.”