--- title: Thandie Newton Thanks God in Emmys 2018 Speech description: Westworld's Thandie Newton gave thanks to God — with a surprise message — after her big win at the 2018 Emmy Awards. canonical: https://time.com/5399978/thandie-newton-emmy-speech-2018/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-09-18T20:01:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:54:57.498Z og:title: Thandie Newton Thanked God With a Genius Message at Emmys og:description: It's not what you think it is og:url: https://time.com/5399978/thandie-newton-emmy-speech-2018/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c693aea1ca1fd73/69893a8fdb2987cbdf260b73/thandie-newton-emmy-speech-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 70th Emmy Awards - Press Room og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Thandie Newton Thanked God With a Genius Message at Emmys twitter:description: It's not what you think it is twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c693aea1ca1fd73/69893a8fdb2987cbdf260b73/thandie-newton-emmy-speech-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Thandie Newton Thanked God With a Clever Message at the 2018 Emmys  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Sep 18, 2018 8:01 PM UTC  LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 17: Thandie Newton attends the 70th Emmy Awards - Press Room at Microsoft Theater on September 17, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images) LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 17: Thandie Newton attends the 70th Emmy Awards - Press Room at Microsoft Theater on September 17, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)David Crotty—Patrick McMullan via Getty Image  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Sep 18, 2018 8:01 PM UTC [Thandie Newton](http://time.com/5250470/thandie-newton-on-westworld-pay/) combined the divine with the profane when she gave her acceptance speech after winning Outstanding Supporting Actress for her work as the tenacious Maeve in [HBO’s _Westworld_](http://time.com/5294589/westworld-season-3-details/) at the [2018 Emmy Awards](http://time.com/5399016/emmys-2018-recap/) on Monday night. Newton, who took the stage in[ a fresh-off-the-runway pink Brandon Maxwell gown](http://time.com/5399673/emmys-2018-red-carpet-trend/), began her speech by acknowledging a higher power. “I don’t believe in God, but I’m going to thank her tonight,” she said. Following her holy statement, Newton then charmingly let an obscenity slip (which was bleeped out for viewers at home), before thanking the cast and crew of _Westworld_, her family, and giving a special shoutout to her daughter Ripley, who celebrated her 18th birthday that day. See Newton’s full speech below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5399978/thandie-newton-emmy-speech-2018/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5399978/thandie-newton-emmy-speech-2018/"},"headline":"Thandie Newton Thanked God With a Clever Message at the 2018 Emmys","datePublished":"2018-09-18T20:01:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:54:57.498Z","description":"It's not what you think it is","url":"https://time.com/5399978/thandie-newton-emmy-speech-2018/","keywords":["Newsfeed","awards","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c693aea1ca1fd73/69893a8fdb2987cbdf260b73/thandie-newton-emmy-speech-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c693aea1ca1fd73/69893a8fdb2987cbdf260b73/thandie-newton-emmy-speech-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"70th Emmy Awards - Press Room","caption":"70th Emmy Awards - Press Room","creditText":"David Crotty—Patrick McMullan via Getty Image","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5399978/thandie-newton-emmy-speech-2018/","name":"Thandie Newton Thanked God With a Clever Message at the 2018 Emmys"}}]}] ```