On the set of her PEOPLE cover shoot, star Michelle Yeoh revealed what she's learned from her costar Jamie Lee Curtis. While chatting about the Halloween star, the Oscar nominee spoke about her fellow first-time Oscar nominee and their friendship. Yeoh said, "The love between me and Jamie Lee Curtis, it's all real, yeah."
The Everything Everywhere All at Once star went on to say that she and Curtis share a special connection. "We have known each other for many years," she said. Yeoh added, "We fell in love on first email. She was like, 'Let's ditch the directors of the movie, the Daniels, and run away!' I was like, 'A woman after my own heart.' When you meet someone and have that connection, it's not the length of time you've known them. A friendship became a very precious relationship."
Yeoh continued, "She wakes up very early and I'm an early bird as well, so we end up texting each other. She's rooting for me. Jamie Lee is one of the most generous in spirit that I have ever met. She's always giving. She's always sending me something and texting 'Did you get it bae?' She's always sharing. And yet at the same time, she's friggin' Hollywood royalty — but she is nurturing."
Michelle Yeoh Said Jamie Lee Curtis Has "Always Been a Winner."
The Crazy Rich Asians star added that for her, it isn't about getting an award. Yeoh said, "For me, she's already a winner. She's always been a winner."
The actor then went to reflect on another woman that's been an inspiration to her, producer Barbara Broccoli. Yeoh said, "We met when we shot Tomorrow Never Dies," before saying that Broccoli seriously impacted her life.
Yeoh said, "The first movie I did after I came to America was Tomorrow Never Dies with Pierce Brosnan. James Bond at that point had only been known as macho, and the girls were just the ones with cutesy names. Barbara knew that the Bond legacy needed to evolve with the world and what was demanded from their audience as well."
Yeoh continued, "I've always been surrounded by women who are very independent, very strong, very smart, and also were very wise, because sometimes I really do take offense when someone says, 'Oh yeah, she's tough. She's a real b----.' And I'm like, 'No. A woman who is tough doesn't have to be that.' You can be a b---- for fun, but not like that. And women who are in positions of power are not neurotic. They deserve to be there because they worked hard at it, and sometimes we have to work even harder to get to that position."
The star went on to speak about another very important woman that changed Yeoh's life.
She said, "My mom was very young when she had us. She was 22 when she was pregnant with me, so I think she's more the child sometimes. It was my grandmother who nurtured us. You learn as a child to take in what kindness is, what gentleness is, what caring and warmth are. That's very important."
Yeoh finished by saying, "One of the reasons I am here today is because of my mom — she is the diva, the one who loves movies. I grew up watching movies from India, Europe, America and China. I've always seen representations of myself on the big screen. Actually, my mother would've made one of the greatest movie stars if she'd had the chance. She laid it on me, which is a good thing."