Gal Gadot received the Hollywood Icon Award from the Women’s Guild Cedars-Sinai at the Snowball Gala in Beverly Hills on Thursday night.
The Wonder Woman star thanked the doctors, nurses and caregivers at the hospital who saved her and her baby daughter Oli’s lives.
“Last year, my life took an unexpected turn,” Gadot said. “I was eight months pregnant and juggling family, work, and everything else when I started having headaches that made my world stop for three weeks.”
Gadot was persuaded by her mother to undergo an MRI scan on February 5, 2024. “Before I got home, the phone rang and the doctor said, ‘Get to the hospital right now. It’s serious. You have a massive blood clot in your brain,'” he recalled of being diagnosed with cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT). “From that moment on, I couldn’t understand anything. Outside the window was English. My husband was talking to different doctors, and all I thought was, am I going to die? Is this what I feel like before I die? Will they be able to save me? … Is the baby okay?”
Within three hours, doctors delivered Ori. “The next morning, while my husband held our tiny newborn, amazing doctors performed life-saving surgery on me, and when I woke up, I realized I had been given two gifts: one in my arms, one on my chest, and a second chance,” Gadot said. “Cedars-Sinai, you gave me that chance.”
Gadot’s doctor, Dr. Shree Song, presented her with the award.
“I learned that Cedars-Sinai was founded in 1918 by members of the Los Angeles Jewish community, at a time when Jewish patients and Jewish doctors often faced discrimination and did not receive equal health care,” Gadot said. “This hospital was born out of resilience, unity, and the belief that all human beings deserve dignity, safety, and healing. So it means the world to me to stand here tonight, more than a century later, recognized as an Israeli and as a Jewish woman, especially in a world that sometimes feels divided and hateful.”
“It’s a reminder that light lasts, compassion lasts, healing lasts. And today, what began as a response to exclusion has become one of the world’s premier medical centers, a place where everyone is welcome, everyone is cared for, and everyone is treated with humanity.”
Gadot ended her speech with a PSA of sorts. “Through this journey, I have learned something that all women, in fact all people, should remember: If your body is whispering to you that something is wrong, listen. If your heart is saying, ‘This isn’t right,’ believe it. Advocating for yourself is not weakness. It’s an act of love.”
Gadot first opened up about and detailed her life-threatening ordeal in an Instagram post in December.
