Viola Davis made up a lie about Tom Cruise stepping on the designer dress she wore to the 2009 Academy Awards in a bid to boost bids for the item in an online auction.
The Doubt star dazzled on the red carpet in a gold Reem Acra halter neck gown at the Oscars and decided to sell off the dress to raise money for charity.
After struggling to draw attention to the lot when she first posted it on eBay.com, the actress resorted to telling tales to boost the appeal of the outfit.
She says: "I tried to sell it on eBay. I said after (the Oscars) I can't wear it anymore, I can't just stick it in the closet. So I said, let me get a little money out of this. I was thinking, 'I could give it to charity and all that. I could get $3,000 out of this'.
"It wouldn't sell and I had my little agent pushing it and everything... She said, 'Tell me something about the dress.' I was like, 'I wore it at the Academy Awards!' So I made something up. I said, 'Tom Cruise stepped on it!'"
However, even the little white lie about the Mission: Impossible superstar couldn't shift the dress - Davis admits she got "nothing" for the outfit, even after making up the tale.
Tagged in Tom Cruise Viola Davis