Patricia Arquette may be good at acting, but she’s unable to act like everything is “fine” regarding the tragic death of her sister, Alexis.
Recently, Patricia spoke out about her sister’s legacy and how she’s just now processing her passing.
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Patricia Arquette is still in grief over the tragic death of her sister, Alexis Arquette.
The actress made that clear by mentioning her sister in her acceptance speech during the Emmy Awards this past week.
She had won best supporting actress for her role in the Hulu show, “The Act”.
While holding back tears, she said, “In my heart, I’m so sad. I lost my sister Alexis. And that trans people are still being persecuted.”
“And I’m in mourning every day of my life, Alexis. And I will be for the rest of my life, for you, until we change the world so that trans people are not persecuted.”
She went on to advocate for those in the trans community, which is something Alexis did while she was still alive.
“Give them jobs,” she said.
“They’re human beings. Let’s give them jobs. Let’s get rid of the bias that we have everywhere.”
Alexis sadly passed away three years ago at the age of 47 due to HIV complications.
She had contracted the disease decades earlier.
After her emotional speech, Patricia spoke to “People” and admitted that she’s just now processing the pain of her sister’s death.
“As people, we kind of act like everything’s fine when sometimes it’s not,” the actress said .
“If people could talk about where they’re really at, I think that’s a healthy place to be. I don’t think it’s the way we communicate as people.”
“I’m really grateful and really happy tonight and yet … the last few years, I’ve been working really consistently back to back. That’s been wonderful, but it’s also been distracting.”
She continued: “This last little period where I’ve been taking some time … I’m really starting to feel my grief. It’s starting to feel like I’m processing this incredible pain of losing Alexis.”
She admitted that it would be “inauthentic” for her to pretend everything was okay.
“It’s not all great. It is really great and it is really hard right now.”
Patricia also spoke about the importance of fighting for the trans community in her speech.
“I really wanted to talk about the reality in America,” she said. “Trans women of color survive under $10,000 a year, in deep poverty — the life expectancy of a trans person is 35 years in America.”
“That’s a young person. Why is that? Because we’re not giving people opportunities.”
“People are still making jokes, they’re still not opening up their hearts to these conversations,” she added.
“Let’s just change it already. I don’t want any kids going through that. When I look at my sister’s life, I’m infuriated and heartbroken that she had to face this wall of discrimination.”
When asked about what she believed her late sister would say to her today, she revealed that it was Alexis who was so “protective” of her.
“She wouldn’t want me to be sad,” she said.
“She’d be worried about me being sad. She loved me so much and she would’ve defended me to the death. I’m really, really sad.”
This isn’t the first time Arquette has opened up about her sister’s legacy. She did also in 2017.
“Alexis was really also very powerful, and strong, and really brave, very brave,” she had said while at the Let’s Toast the Extraordinary Achievements of Alexis Arquette pre-GLAAD Media Awards dinner.
“We had a long conversation when Alexis told me that she was transgender, and I said, ‘Okay. So what do you do about Hollywood?”
She continued: “How will you get work? People are not progressive in Hollywood and it could really negatively impact your career. Are you thinking everything through?’”
Despite all this, Alexis was determined to come out.
“Alexis was very brave to make that decision,” Patricia said.
“She really wanted to help progress the world and move the world forward.”
