Blake Lively Promotes 'Girl Power' in People's Choice Awards Speech

Blake Lively promoted "girl power" at the People's Choice Awards on Wednesday night (18Jan17), crediting the Spice Girls for first introducing her to feminism.

The 29-year-old actress took home the Favorite Dramatic Movie Actress gong for her role in The Shallows at the Los Angeles ceremony, and used her acceptance speech to deliver an inspiring message.

"My mom taught me as a kid that you can't let anyone limit you," Blake began. "Don't ever let anyone tell you what you can't do. So, I was always an ambitious kid, and I set a goal for myself and I knew that if I could accomplish this, that I would be successful and I would be happy."

The former Gossip Girl star has certainly done that, having made the move from the small screen to the silver screen, and becoming a mother to two daughters with her Deadpool star husband Ryan Reynolds.

One thing she has yet to achieve is her aim of meeting the Spice Girls, but she told the crowd she will forever be grateful to the British girl band for giving her first taste of "girl power".

"What was so neat about them was that they were all so distinctly different and they were women and they owned who they were. And, that was my first introduction to girl power," she smiled.

"The women nominated in this category... you guys didn't just vote for me, you voted for girl power. Thank you for sending a message to Hollywood that people want to hear stories about women and we want to hear your stories. Tell your stories, now more than ever. You need to be heard, you are valuable and no one can limit you."

Blake beat Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Emily Blunt and Amy Adams to take home the award. She was joined on the red carpet by sister Robyn, with Ryan presumably looking after the children.

The blonde beauty did give a shout-out to her spouse, however, finishing: "Thank you guys, and thank you to my husband, who's everything to me!" She then added to the star-studded crowd: "You can't have him, he's mine!"