On 3 May, the always-incredible Zoe Saldana was presented with her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame – and she found the experience incredibly overwhelming.

Addressing the fact that it took her a very long time to find box office popularity, the actress said: “It’s taken me a year to digest it and it’s finally sinking in that this recognition is really important for someone like me. Because all I know how to do is just work like everybody else around me. I believed I could, and to be recognized for that means much more than what I want to acknowledge.

“According to mainstream America, I fit the profile of a person that would have gotten lost in a broken system,” says Saldana. “If I had ever surrendered to the impossibilities that were given to me, I don’t think I would have ever been in The Terminal, Drumline and Avatar.”

She added: “Science fiction is a universe where a person like me who is unimaginable is imaginable by so many filmmakers like J.J. Abrams and James Cameron and James Gunn.

“I got to really flourish in this genre. I got to be brave and I got to be strong and I got to play characters that weren’t only the daughter, the wife, the girlfriend. I was a warrior and I was relevant to the storyline, and I’m very proud of the path that I’ve chosen for myself by avoiding falling into stereotypical boxes.”

During her acceptance speech, Saldana also thanked her husband, Marco Perego, for their three boys.

“You are my everything. Every day you remind me to appreciate life’s journey. You keep me grounded. And you help me slow down when I need to take in a moment. You keep yearning to continue making art. You’re that voice in my heart that keeps telling me mend your life, love what you do and do what you love. So thank you, I’m taking this moment in,” she said.

“But you what makes me most excited when I wake up? The three masterpieces that we have created: Zen, Cy and Bowie. Mama te quiere, I love you,” the proud mom concluded.

Saldana was, of course, supported at the event by none other than her “ride or die” friend, Mila Kunis.

Stepping up to pay tribute to the Avengers: Infinity War star, Kunis joked: “She is loud. Like, no joke, her superpower is volume.

“Walk into Zoe’s house and they are screaming, in English, in Spanish, in Italian. It is the loudest love you’ll ever receive in your life. The loudest love I’ve ever heard.

“But it makes sense,” the actress continued, as both she and Saldana began to tear up. “Because when this girl loves, she is all in. She’s all-in for her family, her friends, and all-in for her work.”

Kunis went on to say that she admires the tremendous integrity and authenticity of her “partner in crime”, and praised Saldana for being a smart woman who “speaks three earth languages and a couple that James Cameron invented”.

The Bad Moms actress continued: “I admire you as a person, a wife, a sister, a mother, a businesswoman and as an actress.

“While the world knows you as the characters you have played, I have the privilege of knowing the working mom behind the scenes.”

Following the ceremony, Saldana was approached by a journalist from ET, who asked her about Kunis’ speech.

“With all the actors that I’ve worked with that are now my friends, it feels just great to be able to grow with them and to see ourselves, not just as young people and thriving actors, but now just as parents and as producers, as professionals, as entrepreneurs,” she noted.

“It’s just wonderful.”

It was no doubt important for Saldana to have her bestie there supporting her at such a prestigious event: indeed, countless studies have shown that our girlfriends may play a far greater role in our lives than we might imagine, with research showing that those chats with your girlfriends are vital to your health and may well help prolong your life.

Shelley E. Taylor, author and a world-renowned expert on stress and health, tells Positively Beautiful that women are genetically hard-wired for friendship as a means of coping with stress, theorising that a common female stress response is what she calls “tend and befriend.”

Taylor adds that our evolutionary heritage suggests women who formed strong bonds with one another were more apt to survive and that, over time, women have learned to turn to one another for support and solace and have thus become crucial to one another in times of stress.

This may have something to do with the fact that oxytocin, known as a calming hormone, is released during stress, enhancing the ability to nurture and be nurtured.

“Because oestrogen increases oxytocin’s effects, it’s likely to be more important in women’s stress response than men’s,” Taylor says.

All hail the power of female friendship!

Images: Getty