What we missed in Jennifer Lawrence’s failed 2013 Golden Globes speech
Jennifer Lawrence swept awards season in 2013, but her Golden Globes speech was panned for a misunderstood reason.
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It was 2013 and Jennifer Lawrence was everyone’s favourite relatable celebrity.
A year after playing the fierce Katniss Everdeen in the first The Hunger Games movie, Lawrence showed she had versatile acting ability and a killer sense of humour in the comedy-drama, Silver Linings Playbook, opposite Bradley Cooper.
Playing the part of Tiffany, a widow with an unnamed disorder, saw Lawrence pick up a slew of awards for her work, including the Oscar, Critics Choice, Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild awards for Best Actress.
But it wasn’t just her wins that brought her notoriety.
Lawrence, who was only 22 at the time, made headlines for falling over on red carpets, making comments about how she attended events for food, and just generally captivating the world with her down-to-earth charm.
At the Globes, it was one of the most competitive fields imaginable in the Best Actress – Musical or Comedy. Lawrence was up against Emily Blunt (Salmon Fishing in the Yemen), Judi Dench (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), Maggie Smith (Quartet) and Meryl Streep (Hope Springs).
She won. And her first words after getting onstage were: “What does it (the trophy) say? I beat Meryl!”
The audience went silent, with many in the media and online believing Lawrence was gloating about beating industry legend, Streep.
Lindsay Lohan took to Twitter and called out Lawrence for seemingly throwing shade at the multi-award winning A-lister.
But we were all misunderstood.
Lawrence was actually quoting a line from the cult 1996 film, First Wives Club, which is available to stream on Foxtel Now.
In the hugely popular film, Bette Midler’s character says to Goldie Hawn’s character, “Once you were a terrific actress. You even got an Oscar to prove it.” Bette’s character sees and touches the golden statue in the scene, saying, “‘I beat Meryl’ That’s what it says.”
Appearing on the Late Show a few days after her awkward speech, Lawrence set the record straight.
“It’s never a good idea for me to wing it,” Lawrence told David Letterman at the time.
“I wanted to make a public statement, like ‘Hey idiots. It’s a quote from a movie.’
“I was like, ‘Is that what this turned into? I don’t like Meryl Streep?’
“As if. I’ve had my eyes on getting that girl forever and I was like ‘Finally! I knew it would happen one day.”
Then a few weeks later she fell over walking up the stairs to accept her Oscar and the world was right again.
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Two years later, Lawrence became the highest paid female actress in Hollywood, so thankfully the slip-up did the opposite of hindering her star rising.
The Academy Awards will air live and exclusively on Foxtel on February 10
Originally published as What we missed in Jennifer Lawrence’s failed 2013 Golden Globes speech