"My Hero" - Martina Navratilova congratulates Viola Davis on earning rare EGOT status
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova has expressed her excitement over actor Viola Davis earning the coveted 'EGOT' status after winning her first Grammy on Sunday, February 5.
'EGOT' refers to when an artist wins an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony award during their career. Davis became only the 18th person in history to accomplish the rare feat. The 57-year-old also became only the fourth Black person to achieve 'EGOT' status, alongside Whoopi Goldberg, John Legend and Jennifer Hudson.
Navratilova, an 18-time Grand Slam champion, took to social media to congratulate Davis, referring to her as a "hero."
"Viola Davis earns coveted EGOT- congrats, my hero!!!" she posted.
Viola Davis earns coveted EGOT- congrats, my hero!!! nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/vi…
Davis won the Oscar for best supporting actress in the 2016 movie Fences, and an Emmy in 2015 for her role in the series How to Get Away with Murder. She has also won two Tony awards, one for the musical King Hedley II (2001) and the other for the Broadway production of Fences (2010).
She won her first Grammy for her performance in the audiobook of her memoir Finding Me, for which Martina Navratilova had previously expressed admiration.
During her acceptance speech at the 65th Grammy Awards yesterday, Davis said:
"Oh, my God! I wrote this book to honour the six-year-old Viola, to honour her, her life, her joy, her trauma, everything. And it has just been such a journey. I just EGOT!” Viola Davis said while accepting the Grammy award.
Martina Navratilova battles throat and breast cancer
Martina Navratilova recently disclosed through her personal website that she had been diagnosed with throat and breast cancer.
She was previously found to have non-invasive breast cancer in 2010 and had undergone a lumpectomy and radiation treatment. The 66-year-old revealed that she first noticed the enlarged node last year during the WTA Finals, where she and Chris Evert were honored.
She was eventually diagnosed with oropharyngeal cancer — tumors of the back of the throat, the base of the tongue, and tonsils. While she was undergoing tests for her throat cancer, a “suspicious form” was found in her breast, which was determined to be early-stage cancer, completely unrelated to the throat cancer.
"I noticed an enlarged lymph node in her neck during the WTA finals in Fort Worth. When it didn’t go down, a biopsy was performed, the results came back as Stage 1 throat cancer," she wrote.
"At the same time as I was undergoing the tests for the throat, a suspicious form was found in her breast, which was subsequently diagnosed as cancer, completely unrelated to the throat cancer."
Since sharing the news, the nine-time Wimbledon champion has received an outpouring of support from fans on social media as she remains positive for the outcome of her treatment.