Stay Forever Gold Reminds Us We’re so Much Better When We’re Together
Women friends are each other’s best cheerleaders, whether we’re out in front of the pack or especially when we’re in the back and in need of encouragement. When we hold each other up, we happily encourage each other’s successes. After all, a rising tide lifts all boats, and lighting paths for others brightens our paths as well. Girls who are encouraged at a young age to support one another create a community. This girl power transitions into even fiercer female superpowers. Seeing women take on roles we haven’t seen in the past and killing it, especially with the reinforcement of other women, raises the bar and makes cracks in the glass ceiling. It’s all the sweeter because we do it together.
Cheering on a friend and supporting a dream is joyful and inspiring. We find strength from a friend who is there to encourage us to test new waters. While we may not always say the exact/perfect/right thing at precisely the right time, encouragement comes naturally between women.
Here is a look at some amazing friendships throughout history as well as some new Girlfriend Besties on the block! All of these women inspire us to strive to reach our goals as well as remind us to lock arms while we do it!
boygenius- Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, and Phoebe Bridgers
These three accomplished singer-songwriters came together to form a one-of-a-kind band powered by friendship, incredible songwriting, and skilled musicianship. Bridgers has called the formation of the group “kind of an accident,” wherein each of the members were simply fans of each other’s work. The three became close and shared their frustrations of constantly being compared to each other as “women in rock” despite their considerably different musical styles. Dacus has commented that the idea of women in music “should not be remarkable whatsoever,” with Bridgers adding, “It’s not a genre.” Each has spoken on the tendency of the music industry to pit women against each other, and the group was formed in part to reject this idea. “I hope people see the three of us and know there isn’t competition,” Dacus has said. “You don’t have to compete with your contemporaries. You can make something good with people you admire.”
Congratulations to boygenius for their Grammy nominations and wins for Alternative Music Album and Rock Performance. They truly rock!!! And while we don’t dare dream of being rockstars (we leave that to brilliant artists like these women), boygenius reminds us that to be able to do what we love, with friends we love, is part of the dream itself.
Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan
Helen Keller was only 19 months old when she lost her eyesight and hearing due to an illness. 20-year-old Anne Sullivan was hired to be her teacher. And the two formed a union that perfectly depicts what everlasting friendship and honest mentor-mentee relationships look like. Helen Keller’s success — of being the first blind and deaf college graduate in America — is an example of not only Sullivan’s prowess as a teacher but also a testament to the warmth of their friendship.
Helen Keller’s story is one of the most inspiring of all time — what a person can accomplish with all the cards stacked against their success. Anne Sullivan reminds us that nothing is impossible with a trusted friend by our side.
Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King
In their early 20s, Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King were working at a TV station as an anchor and a production assistant respectively. And that job was the start of a glorious career for them individually, and an even more spectacular friendship. Despite diverse upbringings, the two bonded over their experiences of racism and shared dreams. Today, the two continue to take pride in their heritage and serve friendship goals with funny moments, amazing trips, and unparalleled support.
It doesn’t get better than this. What is it about these two, that watching them be each other’s wing-women at glamorous events from the Grammys to the Golden Globes makes us feel like we’re watching ourselves! Their friendship is like the jewel in the friendship crown. #bestiegoals
Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova
Theirs is one of the biggest rivalries on-court and the strongest friendships off-court. Both Evert and Navratilova were charismatic giants on the court, who played 80 matches, including 60 finals, against each other. And yet, the respect and admiration that the two shared was just as great, if not better, than the matches they played. From traveling for tournaments together to standing in support for each other and being especially kind in the face of losses (professional or personal), Evert and Navratilova’s friendship is legendary.
Women aren’t supposed to be competitive beings — eff that… These besties show the world how it’s done. Be the best at what you do and be the best of friends while you do it. Kind of redefines winning and losing, doesn’t it?
Jennifer Anniston and Courtney Cox
Courtney Cox and Jennifer Aniston have given us the kind of friendship goals that even Monica and Rachel would have a tough time beating. Friends may have ended 15 years ago, but the friendship that Courtney and Jennifer share has lasted for over two decades and is still going strong. From being each other’s shoulder to cry on during tough times to becoming godmothers, Courtney and Jennifer have always been friends first and competitors later.
Maybe never before, in the history of entertainment, has there been more famous on-screen friends who carry the mantle off screen as well. “Rachel and Monica” are household names. There is even a fab bookstore in Bentonville, Arkansas called Two Friends — the owners are besties named Rachel and Monica. *Fun Fact — STAY GOLDEN, GIRLS — Friendship is the New Marriage is sold there!
Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe
It is a rare kind of friendship that lasts even after death. Marilyn Monroe and Ella Fitzgerald had that kind of rare, everlasting, beautiful friendship. For Marilyn, Ella was one of her favorite people and singers. For Ella, Marilyn’s support was the ground on which her career took off. Marilyn was the more popular of the two when Ella started and actually used her status to help launch Ella’s career by fighting prejudice. The two also bonded over a shared history of familial abuse and failed marriages, and even after Marilyn’s death, Ella never forgot the role she played in her life.
Wow — this bestie duo blew us away. Two legends who supported each other, one the archetypal image of beauty and desire, the other sang with a voice that made songs iconic. We love them for being unforgettable to the world outside while inspiring us to stay connected deeply on the inside.
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are comedic royalty with a friendship that spans over 20 years. It was at Chicago’s ImprovOlympic that the two first became friends. Since then, they’ve hosted shows together, planned their children’s future marriages, given cameo appearances in each other’s shows, and created awesome nicknames. But most importantly, these two comedic geniuses have proved that every friendship needs a healthy dose of laughter and long-lasting support.
Nothing compares to laughter — it’s the best medicine and in today’s world, in too short a supply. We love Tina and Amy’s bond because they make us laugh, they make us feel like we can all create something lasting together and because Amy’s “Leslie Knope” on Parks and Rec coined the phrase “Galentine’s Day!”
Althea Gibson and Angela Buxton
Angela Buxton was Jewish, and the great Althea Gibson was Black, and in the segregated world of 1950s tennis, they forged a remarkable friendship as champion doubles partners. In 1955 Althea Gibson, from Harlem, and Angela Buxton, from Liverpool, were world-ranked tennis players…yet no one wanted to partner with them in women’s doubles. Post-War America was still very segregated and the tennis world was still very anti-Semitic. So the two outcasts from two nations decided to join forces after meeting at an exhibition game in New Delhi, pairing up, and winning the French Open and Wimbledon — the first Grand Slam events won by any African-American — male or female.
It’s hard to imagine what Althea and Angela went through facing down racism and anti-Semitism in the 1950’s. Their friendship is one for the ages — a permanent reminder that we are stronger together, evil loses when we stand together, and that winning together is the sweetest prize of all.
Gloria Steinem and Marlo Thomas
Justine Larbalestier once said, “If you are causing trouble, look for allies, always.” Gloria Steinem and Marlo Thomas are some of the most famous troublemakers in the history of American women, and they became friends because of one sentence: “Boy, I don’t know which one of you I’d like to f*ck first!” That immortal line was uttered by a male television agent in his office in 1967. He’d brought the two women together to discuss the possibility of Thomas, an actress, starring in a show about Steinem’s famous time as a Playboy Bunny. “Boy, did he pick the wrong two women to say that to,” said Thomas later. From that ignominious beginning came a friendship that defined the feminist movement of the 60s and 70s: Steinem and Thomas helped found the Ms Foundation for Women, and both continue to be outspoken activists for women’s rights and freedoms worldwide.
Maybe “Free to be You and Me” was a precursor to this enduring bestie friendship between two of America’s badass icons. We don’t think of the feminist movement without Gloria and Marlo and we don’t think about Gloria and Marlo without thinking about grace, guts, intelligence and inspiration.
Pauli Murray and Eleanor Roosevelt
The long-lasting friendship between former first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt and Pauli Murray, a black and queer writer and activist, began with a protest. Murray wrote President Franklin Delano Roosevelt a letter in 1938 to chastise him for speaking at the all-white University of North Carolina after he had touted a platform of social progress. She sent a copy of the letter to the First Lady, who was notably more active with African American interest groups than her husband and intrigued by Murray’s forcefulness. The two had a common passion for debate and civic causes that was present throughout the hundreds of letters they sent over the course of their nearly 25-year friendship. Roosevelt even wrote about her “firebrand” of a friend in the February 1953 issue of Ebony, further memorializing their connection.
They say that “Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.” Well let’s never forget these two friends and the trail they blazed for speaking up and out to help the world. Their passion for their beliefs fueled not only their actions, but a friendship born from shared desire for progress!