Goldie Hawn thinks Will Smith smacking Chris Rock at last year's Oscars was a "microcosm of our world".
Goldie Hawn covers Variety (photo by Peggy Sirota)
The 77-year-old actress has praised the "brilliant" comedian for retaining his composure after the 'King Richard' star "lost control" and stormed out of his seat to lash out at the comic over his joke about Will's wife Jada Pinkett Smith, and admitted she could see comparisons between the incident and what is happening in the wider world.
She told the new issue of Variety: “It’s indicative of our culture right now.
"I mean, you could look at it and say, ‘What the hell just happened?’ Somebody lost control. They lost their self-regulation. Their bigger brain wasn’t thinking, and they did something that was horrendous and also showed no remorse. That, to me, is a microcosm oftentimes of our world.
"Chris was brilliant — totally held on to and controlled his emotions, was able to stand with dignity. That’s an example of what we would like our world to look like. But, unfortunately, it isn’t right now.”
In 1970, Goldie won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 'Cactus Flower' but not only did she not attend the ceremony because she didn't think she'd win, she didn't even watch it on TV because she had forgotten it was taking place.
She said: “I forgot it was on television that night. Then I woke up to a phone call at like 4 in the morning. And it was a man’s voice and he said, ‘Hey, congratulations, you got it.’ ‘I got what?’ ‘You got the Academy Award for best supporting actress.’ ”
The 'First Wives Club' star thanked the person on the phone, called her parents and "had a good cry", and admitted even now she regrets not attending the ceremony.
She said: “I never got dressed up. I never got to pick up the award. I regret it. It’s something that I look back on now and think, ‘It would have been so great to be able to have done that.’ "
And it was only a few weeks ago that Goldie finally saw footage of Raquel Welch accepting the honour on her behalf, while travelling to a mutual friend's party with this year's Academy Awards host Jimmy Kimmel.
She recalled: “He said, ‘Did you ever see the part where you’re being announced by Fred Astaire?’ And I said, ‘Fred Astaire?!’ He’s my idol. And I didn’t know he was the one that announced my name. I got emotional when I finally saw it.”
The 'Death Becomes Her' actress keeps her Oscar in her bedroom closet, where she can enjoy it but no one else can see it.
She said: “I don’t brag much. So those things, I keep kind of quiet.”
For more from Goldie, visit https://variety.com/2023/awards/news/goldie-hawn-oscars-regret-retiring-acting-1235545091
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