Nicole Scherzinger was left on cloud nine recently when she took home her first Tony Award for her "dream role" in Sunset Boulevard.
The pop star, 46, confessed that the achievement felt like the "pinnacle of her career" as she was honored at New York’s Radio City Music Hall.
However, her dedication to Broadway isn't leaving a lot of time for her personal life... particularly her wedding to fiancé Thom Evans, 40.
The pair have been engaged for two years, but it doesn't look like they'll be walking down the aisle any time soon.
© Getty ImagesSpeaking exclusively to HELLO!, Nicole quipped: "Oh, there’s no wedding planning, honey. When you do Broadway, it's only Broadway. You eat, sleep – you don't sleep much – and breathe Broadway."
Not that Thom seems to mind: "Thank God I have a very understanding and wonderful and the most supportive fiancé," she added.
Her next dream role
© Getty ImagesNicole previously spoke of her hopes for a wedding in her Hawaiian birthplace, with a reception "somewhere in Europe," but in the wake of her Broadway success, it looks as though the couple may wait even longer to say "I Do".
"I still want to do more," Nicole said. "This moment has made me dream again. Growing up as a Filipino girl, I always loved Miss Saigon. I would love to be a part of that show. Aurora in Kiss of the Spider Woman is another dream role. Another is to maybe create my own musical."
Maybe even Hollywood beckons? "I'd love some really bold and daring film roles," she revealed. "I'd love to do a movie musical – maybe Sunset Boulevard as a movie. More than anything, I want to keep on doing stuff that shows all of me."
Reaching a peak
© Getty ImagesThe musical-theatre powerhouse was named Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her performance as Norma Desmond in the reboot of Andrew Lloyd Webber's classic.
After the ceremony, she said: "This is a dream role come true – a dream role that I never knew was coming until [director] Jamie Lloyd had this vision of me as Norma Desmond."
Nicole was born in Hawaii and grew up in Kentucky with parents of Filipino, Ukrainian and native Hawaiian heritage.
"It just felt so right, as if everything that had happened in my life – all of the pain, struggle, confusion, emptiness and loneliness – led to this moment," she said. "I put all those emotions into Norma, into every performance. As Norma says: 'I feel like I’m back where I was born to be.' I really do feel like I was born for this."
Convincing her critics
© Dave Benett/Getty ImagesIn her acceptance speech, Nicole thanked Sunset Boulevard’s composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who has become one of her biggest champions – a relationship that would have been unthinkable nine years ago.
After Nicole chose to return to her judging role on The X Factor rather than appear in his production of Cats on Broadway, the disgruntled composer said she would "never get her Tony Award."
It had been an "honor" to work with him, Nicole said in her acceptance speech. "You saw in me what no one else did. You have given us all new ways to dream and you have changed my life for ever."
So grateful
© Getty ImagesIt's more than 20 years since Nicole shot to fame as a member of girl band The Pussycat Dolls, but it's only now that the star feels that she is being seen for who she is.
"I always felt as though I wasn’t able to show my full potential," she said. "No matter what I achieved, I was never satisfied; I was just waiting for a chance to show more of what I knew I could do.
"I’m grateful for that time but feel I’m in a better place now. I’m proud of what we achieved, but it was a crazy time. I still miss the girls, but it’s liberating to be doing something that shows me for who I really am.
© Getty"Sunset Boulevard was the opportunity I’d been waiting for all my life. This show has changed my life in so many ways. I’m so grateful that I was given that chance."
Performing on Broadway was a long-time ambition. "It's unbelievable,” she exclaimed. "Broadway is like no other community I've ever experienced. The way talent is nurtured and hard work is championed is so inspiring.
"I’m so grateful for the way the Broadway community welcomed me, supported me and continues to embrace me. It feels as if I’m part of something very special."
Thom has been one of Nicole’s most vocal cheerleaders since they went red-carpet official with their romance at the 2020 Golden Globes after meeting on The X Factor: Celebrity the previous year.
© Getty ImagesHe proposed to Nicole on a beach in Portugal in 2023, and that year, he wrote on Instagram: "Just wow! I saw Sunset Boulevard last night and was completely blown away. Nicole Scherzinger your performance was truly MESMERISING."
When his partner won an Olivier Award the following year, he said: "Words cannot express how proud I am of you my love… NO ONE is more deserving of such a prestigious accolade."
