Nicole Scherzinger Says ‘Don’t Give Up’ Through Tears as She Wins First Tony Award for Sunset Blvd.

The former Pussycat Dolls singer won Best Actress in a Musical, beating Megan Hilty, Audra McDonald, Jasmine Amy Rogers and Jennifer Simard

Nicole Scherzinger on June 8, 2025.Credit : 

Nicole Scherzinger felt the love at the 2025 Tony Awards.

On Sunday, June 8, the star, 46, won Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for her Broadway debut as Norma Desmond in Sunset Blvd. Her win came shortly after she performed “As If We Never Said Goodbye” during the ceremony, earning a standing ovation at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

In her emotional acceptance speech, Scherzinger began by saying, “I just have to thank God for carrying me every step of the way. I give you all the glory.”

Scherzinger continued by saying she was honored to be recognized alongside her fellow nominees Megan Hilty (Death Becomes Her), Audra McDonald (Gypsy), Jasmine Amy Rogers (BOOP! The Musical) and Jennifer Simard (Death Becomes Her), whom she called “exceptional warrior women.”

The former Pussycats Dolls singer thanked the Tony Awards “for making this little Hawaiian-Ukrainian-Filipino girl’s dream come true” and continued by giving gratitude to her mother, who Scherzinger said had her at 18 and “gave everything up for me.”

She then turned her attention to fiancé and former Scottish rugby player Thom Evans, 40, who she said “believes in me when I forget to believe in myself.”

Nicole Scherzinger in ‘Sunset Blvd.’.Marc Brenner

Scherzinger also thanked Sunset Blvd. composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, whom she said it has been an “honor” to work with, before concluding her tear-filled speech by sharing how monumental her role in the Broadway revival has been for her.

“Growing up, I always felt like I didn’t belong, but you all have made me feel like I belong and I have come home at last,” Scherzinger said to the audience. “So if there is anyone who feels like they don’t belong or your time hasn’t come, don’t give up. Just keep on giving and giving because the world needs your love and light more than ever. This is a testament that love always wins.”

Scherzinger brought Jamie Lloyd’s revival of Webber’s classic Sunset Blvd. from London to Broadway in October 2024. Scherzinger stars as a fading film star who grows enamored with screenwriter Joe Gillis in Hollywood in the late 1940s; the musical is based on the Academy Award-winning 1950 film of the same name.

“I have worked many, many years to build up to this moment, and it’s changed my life,” Scherzinger told PEOPLE recently while discussing the show and her Tony nomination. “I’ve never been more happy, I think, because I always had so much inside of me that I felt like people didn’t see or understand. It just feels good now to be able to share that with the world.”

“This is a dream that I’ve had since I was a kid,” she added of performing on Broadway. “And to finally realize my dream… I really feel, to quote one of my lines in Sunset, that ‘I have come home at last.’ “