Michelle Williams wins Golden Globe for playing woman with cancer who divorced husband and slept with 200 men

Michelle Williams was announced as the winner at the Golden Globes for her leading role in the wild Dying for Sex TV drama.

The Golden Globes is a great opportunity for Hollywood’s A-listers to get the praise they deserve for their efforts on the big screen.

It often offers a great opportunity to bring incredible and wild stories to life and that is particularly true for Williams.

Michelle Williams was able to win the Golden Globe for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television, despite the stiff the competition.

Williams bested fellow nominees Claire Danes (The Beast in Me), Rashida Jones (Black Mirror), Amanda Seyfried (Long Bright River), Sarah Snook (All Her Fault) and Robin Wright (The Girlfriend).

Williams did not attend the ceremony, so her award saw presenters Melissa McCarthy and Kathryn Hahn accept it on her behalf.

Dying for Sex has been praised for showing the fascinating journey of real life woman Molly Kochan (Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

Williams took on the role of real-life woman Molly Kochan in the Dying for Sex series that follows her story as she is diagnosed with cancer, divorces her husband and sets out on a journey of sexual exploration.

The real Molly died in 2019, but not before documenting her story from 33-years-old, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

After deciding how she wanted to spend the rest of her life, Molly, alongside her best friend Nikki Boyer (played by Jenny Slate), decided to document her sexual exploits in a podcast.

Recognizing that she and her husband had been having 'difficulties' even prior to her diagnosis, Molly decided to get a divorce and started dating around.

She even explained her new view on sexual encounters on the podcast, stating: “Being sexual is the antithesis to death. Sex also makes me feel alive and it’s a great distraction for being sick.”

As part of her new approach to life, Molly experimented with sexual fetishes and saucy texts, and slept with a reported 200 men.

Molly Kochan died three years after her cancer diagnosis (Instagram/@nikkiboyer)

Molly’s friend, Nikki, called Molly’s journey her ‘full on sexual awakening’ and explained the shift she noticed.

She said: “Her whole life she felt fragmented and during sex she was allowed to make her own choices and put the pieces together for herself.”

Molly ultimately passed away three years after her terminal diagnosis, but prior to her death, she was able to share her story in a memoir.

In the book, she explained that she started on her journey with sex because she was 'desperate to fall in love'.

"[I] wanted to find my soulmate,” she wrote, adding: “It was a romantic human idea I wanted to belong to.

"And between those interactions, along with the ones with friends and family, I realize I did get to fall in love. I am in love. With me.”

Golden Globes 2026 nominations/winners

Best director

• Paul Thomas Anderson - One Battle After Another (winner)
• Ryan Coogler - Sinners
• Guillermo del Toro - Frankenstein
• Jafar Panahi - It Was Just an Accident
• Joachim Trier - Sentimental Value
• Chloe Zhao - Hamnet

Best screenplay

• Paul Thomas Anderson - One Battle After Another (winner)
• Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie - Marty Supreme
• Ryan Coogler - Sinners
• Jafar Panahi - It Was Just an Accident
• Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier - Sentimental Value
• Chloé Zhao, Maggie O'Farrell - Hamnet

Best TV series - drama

• The Diplomat
• The Pitt (winner)
• Pluribus
• Severance
• Slow Horses
• The White Lotus

Best TV series - comedy or musical

• Abbott Elementary
• The Bear
• Hacks
• Nobody Wants This
• Only Murders in the Building
• The Studio (winner)

Best limited TV series

• Adolescence (winner)
• All Her Fault
• The Beast In Me
• Black Mirror
• Dying for Sex
• The Girlfriend

Best TV actress - drama

• Kathy Bates - Matlock
• Britt Lower - Severance
• Helen Mirren - Mobland
• Bella Ramsey - The Last of Us
• Keri Russell - The Diplomat
• Rhea Seehorn - Pluribus (winner)

Best TV actor - drama

• Sterling K Brown - Paradise
• Diego Luna - Andor
• Gary Oldman - Slow Horses
• Mark Ruffalo - Task
• Adam Scott - Severance
• Noah Wyle - The Pitt (winner)

Best supporting actor - TV

• Owen Cooper - Adolescence (winner)
• Billy Crudup - The Morning Show
• Walton Goggins - The White Lotus
• Jason Isaacs - The White Lotus
• Tramell Tillman - Severance
• Ashley Walters - Adolescence

Best supporting actress - TV

• Carrie Coon - The White Lotus
• Erin Doherty - Adolescence
• Hannah Einbinder - Hacks
• Catherine O'Hara - The Studio
• Parker Posey - The White Lotus
• Aimee-Lou Wood - The White Lotus

Best film - drama

• Frankenstein
• Hamnet
• It Was Just an Accident
• The Secret Agent
• Sentimental Value
• Sinners

Best film - musical or comedy

• Blue Moon
• Bugonia
• Marty Supreme
• No Other Choice
• Nouvelle Vague
• One Battle After Another

Best animated film

• Arco
• Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle
• Elio
• KPop Demon Hunters (winner)
• Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
• Zootopia 2

Best actress - musical or comedy

• Rose Byrne - If I Had Legs I'd Kick You (winner)
• Cynthia Erivo - Wicked: For Good
• Kate Hudson - Song Sung Blue
• Chase Infiniti - One Battle After Another
• Amanda Seyfried - The Testament of Ann Lee
• Emma Stone - Bugonia

Best actor - musical or comedy

• Timothée Chalamet - Marty Supreme (winner)
• George Clooney - Jay Kelly
• Leonardo DiCaprio - One Battle After Another
• Ethan Hawke - Blue Moon
• Lee Byung-Hun - No Other Choice
• Jesse Plemons - Bugonia

Best supporting actress

• Emily Blunt - The Smashing Machine
• Elle Fanning - Sentimental Value
• Ariana Grande - Wicked: For Good
• Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas - Sentimental Value
• Amy Madigan - Weapons
• Teyana Taylor - One Battle After Another (winner)

Best supporting actor

• Benicio Del Toro - One Battle After Another
• Jacob Elordi - Frankenstein
• Paul Mescal - Hamnet
• Sean Penn - One Battle After Another
• Adam Sandler - Jay Kelly
• Stellan Skarsgård - Sentimental Value (winner)

Best actress - drama

• Jessie Buckley - Hamnet
• Jennifer Lawrence - Die, My Love
• Renate Reinsve - Sentimental Value
• Julia Roberts - After the Hunt
• Tessa Thompson - Hedda
• Eva Victor - Sorry, Baby

Best actor - drama

• Joel Edgerton - Train Dreams
• Oscar Isaac - Frankenstein
• Dwayne Johnson - The Smashing Machine
• Michael B Jordan - Sinners
• Wagner Moura - The Secret Agent
• Jeremy Allen White - Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere