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A number of Hollywood stars have taken their mum or dad as a date to the Oscars

IT’S one of the cutest Oscars trends — celebrities who take their parents as their dates. But what happens when parents get embarrassing on the red carpet?

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THEY’RE the reason we’re all here so on one of the biggest nights of your career, why not take mum or dad along as your date?

For Hollywood’s biggest names, it’s not an uncommon prospect to take one or even both parents to the Academy Awards.

When Ben Affleck and Matt Damon won their Best Original Screenplay Oscar in 1998 for Good Will Hunting, the film that propelled them into stardom, their mums were in the audience cheering.

“We’re just two young guys who were fortunate enough to be involved with a lot of really great people,” Affleck said on stage, while Damon fist pumped to his mum in the crowd.

Earlier that night, the budding duo had walked the red carpet arm-in-arm with the main ladies in their lives.

Talking about their lovely dates later, Affleck joked: “We did take our mums, which only fuelled rumours of our sexuality,”

Ben Affleck with his mum Chris and Matt Damon with his mum Nancy at the Oscars in 1998.
Ben Affleck with his mum Chris and Matt Damon with his mum Nancy at the Oscars in 1998.

Leonardo DiCaprio has taken his mum, so too did Matthew McConaughey and Chris Evans. And Ryan Gosling took both his mum and sister.

Ryan Gosling took his mum Donna and sister Mandi to the Oscars in 2007. Picture: Getty Images
Ryan Gosling took his mum Donna and sister Mandi to the Oscars in 2007. Picture: Getty Images

But for Gosling, there was an issue. His mum Donna was obsessed with beehive hairdos, convinced they were all the rage, and sported one at the Oscars.

But when Rachel Weisz, seated behind her, mentioned that she couldn’t see over it, she began to feel self-conscious, Gosling told Entertainment Weekly.

So the doting son convinced Meryl Streep to come over and pay her a compliment about her hair.

Lady Gaga with her dad Joseph Germanotta at the Academy Awards in 2015. Picture: Getty Images
Lady Gaga with her dad Joseph Germanotta at the Academy Awards in 2015. Picture: Getty Images

It’s not just the boys bringing family along as their dates. Charlize Theron was accompanied by her mum one year while Anne Hathaway took mum and dad.

Emma Stone took her mum one year and the two wound up seated next to then ‘It’ couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

“She was just asking multiple questions, like if they had kids. What’s it like? I had no idea! The whole time,” Stone laughed in an interview with EW.

Whether by their side for crushing defeats or the dizzying high of a win, parents at the Oscars is an adorably sweet trend.

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Originally published as A number of Hollywood stars have taken their mum or dad as a date to the Oscars

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Original URL: https://www.thechronicle.com.au/entertainment/awards/oscars/so-many-hollywood-stars-have-taken-their-mums-or-dads-as-dates-to-the-oscars/news-story/f184bdd85614aca5fbfa180572f758a0