Sore subject! Jennifer Lawrence is finally starting to feel better about falling down at the 2013 Oscars — even though she’s still dying for a do-over.
Lawrence, 30, reflected on the viral gaffe during an interview on Dear Media’s “Absolutely Not with Heather McMahan” podcast on Wednesday, October 21. At the 85th annual Academy Awards, the Kentucky native tripped as she walked up the steps to accept her first Best Actress win for her role in 2012’s Silver Linings Playbook. Seven years later, Lawrence remembered feeling “nervous” and “very superstitious” before the big night.
“I didn’t want to acknowledge the possibility that I would win. I didn’t want to write down a speech,” she recalled on the podcast. “I had everything in my head. I was very, very nervous but I was ready. All of the adrenaline clears out and they call my name and I’m elated and I’m in shock. … And then I fell, and it erased everything from my mind. My full brain went blank.”
Over the years, the Winter’s Bone star has learned to “look back at it now fondly,” even though “for a very long time, the fall thing was very sensitive.” Not only was the moment quickly immortalized in awards show history, but it also sparked an unexpected tiff with Anderson Cooper, who claimed at the time that Lawrence fell on purpose.
“I saw him on CNN three days [after the Oscars] saying, ‘Well, she obviously faked the fall,'” the Hunger Games star said. “It was so devastating because it was this horrific humiliation to me. I don’t know if I’ll ever have a chance to give a speech like that again, so it didn’t feel good for me not to have a speech.”
Months after her embarrassing Oscars night, Lawrence bumped into the CNN anchor, 53, at a holiday party — and was sure to “let him know” how she felt.
“My friend told me a vein was bulging out of my eyes. He apologized. I think we’re good friends now,” she teased. “On my end, we’re all good. What I led with was, ‘Have you ever tried to walk up stairs in a ball gown? So then how do you know?’ He apologized immediately and said he didn’t know and gave this wonderful apology. I was all fired up … He probably told everyone I was a psycho.”
Lawrence received two more Oscar nominations: for Best Supporting Actress in American Hustle in 2014 and for Best Actress in Joy in 2016. Though the honors were just as special, she still wishes she could rewind to her first win.
“I would give anything to be able to go back and redo that moment,” she told Howard Stern in 2018. “The fall startled me and made me forget my speech and made me forget to thank important people. … I didn’t thank David [O. Russell] when I wouldn’t have a career if it weren’t for him. I didn’t thank anyone from the movie — I wished a random person happy birthday, then stumbled off.”
