Jelena Dokic is thankful that her documentary has opened the door and raised awareness about issues gripping Australia.
The sports commentator’s documentary Unbreakable: The Jelena Dokic Story took out a Logie for Best Factual or Documentary Program.
The documentary covers Jelena’s rise as a tennis star, while she went through bullying and domestic violence inflicted by her father, Damir Dokic. It also explores her journey outside of tennis and how she started again.
During her heartfelt speech, she spoke about the impact of bringing the film to life.
“I want to say a massive thank you to every single person who voted, not just the fans, but the industry. And not because of me,” she said.
“But because the hard stories and the difficult topics need to be told to create awareness. This is something that we did not even talk about 10 years ago. Now we have it in books and on screen.
“So I just want to thank you all. We have done a massive thing. This is not about winning. This is about a win for victims and survivors, especially of domestic violence and mental health.”
She added that it was important to provide a voice for victims.
“To not just to have heard but for them to reclaim their life, to find their voice and not just survive but to thrive,” she said. “To do that, we need to actually be able to talk about it.”
“Lastly, to every kid and person out there, I will say to every single girl and woman out there, never allow anyone to take your worth or happiness or smile away,” she continued.
“Believe in your goals and dreams. I am standing here as someone who literally had that dream. I believed in it. I didn’t give up on it. If I can do it you can do it too.
She then thanked Logie winner and the host of Tipping Point, Todd Woodbridge.
“I say that and this makes me cry so much because I at sat down with the table 11 years ago when I retired, and you said to me that I can be a commentator and bring my story to life and I looked at you and I said to you ‘I don’t know who you are talking about but you are not talking about me.’ I was a person who couldn’t string two sentences together and had no skills.
“You believed in me professionally. I hope everyone finds a Todd like I did. You’re a massive reason why I’m here, I’m standing here in every single way. You love to remind me every single day how right I am, and I still need to listen to you.
“So I will. I say if everyone can have a father and mentor like Todd, they would be very fortunate.”
