Why Angelina Jolie really wore her iconic leg-baring 2012 Oscars dress

Angelina Jolie’s bizarre 2012 Oscars dress became an instant viral sensation — seven years on, she finally explains what she was thinking.

Angelina Jolie’s 2012 Oscars dress is one of the sexiest to ever grace the red carpet, spawning the #AngiesRightLeg hashtag at the time due to its ultra-high slit.

The 44-year-old actress spoke to Extra about the black Atelier Versace gown at the Monday premiere of her new film Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, where she revealed there was another look in the running to make its debut that night.

Putting her best foot forward at the 2012 Oscars. Picture: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Angelina and her leg on stage at the 2012 Oscars. Picture: AFP

“I had a more complicated dress and I wore the more comfortable dress,” Jolie admitted, “which was that one, and I think I was just so comfortable that … I think when you feel comfortable, when you feel yourself — which is very much the theme of the film, and we know this in life — you embrace it. And sometimes, maybe it appears to be a thing, I don’t know.”

The distinctive dress was meme heaven — take this Photoshopped work of art.

The mother-of-six attended the premiere with all but her oldest son, Maddox, whom she recently dropped off for college in South Korea.

“He’s good,” she reported. “But he’s flying to meet me in Japan. So I am two days from my hug … I know he is solid, he’s fine, but I need it.”

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Earlier this month, Jolie told Hello! magazine that she’s “rediscovering” herself as a mother of teenagers. “As they grow up, I find my children are strong individuals but still open-minded,” Jolie said. “I try to lead by example and be kind and gracious, as my mother was — and loving and tolerant.”

Jolie at the Maleficent: Mistress of Evil premiere in LA this week. Picture: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for MAC Cosmetics

She went on to say that seeing her kids hit their teenage years has forced her to reflect on her own formative years.

“When your children are little you feel more ‘mommy’. When they are teenagers you start to remember yourself as a teenager,” she told the publication. “You see them going to punk clubs and you wonder why you can’t go. I’m in this fun moment where I’m rediscovering myself.”

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission