Jennifer Lawrence Tells the Story of Confronting Anderson Cooper Over Claim She Faked Oscars Fall
Lawrence says Cooper's claim was "devastating because [falling at the Oscars] was this horrific humiliation to me."
Jennifer Lawrence with her Best Actress award at the 2013 Oscars
Dee Cercone/Everett Collection
Seven years after her Best Actress win for “Silver Linings Playbook,” Jennifer Lawrence can finally say she’s moved on from the infamous moment where she fell walking up the stairs to collect her trophy. But getting to a point in her life where she can look back fondly at the Oscars fall took some time. Lawrence looked back at the fall during an appearance on Heather McMahan’s “Absolutely Not” podcast and opened up about how she confronted Anderson Cooper after she was left “devastated” by his accusation that she faked falling in order to appear more relatable.
“I was ready for it. I was very nervous and also very superstitious. I didn’t want to acknowledge the possibility that I would win. I didn’t want to write down a speech,” Lawrence said. “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. I can look back at it now fondly but for a very long time the fall thing was very sensitive.”
Lawrence continued, “Anderson Cooper, I saw him on CNN three days later saying, ‘Well she obviously faked the fall,’ and 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. I’ll tell you what, I saw him at a Christmas party and I let him know. My friend told me a vein was bulging out of my eyes. He apologized. I think we’re good friends now. 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.”
The fall has long been a sensitive topic for Lawrence as it resulted in a quick and rambling Oscar speech where the actress did not even thank her “Silver Linings Playbook” director David O. Russell. During a 2018 appearance on Howard Stern’s radio show, Lawrence said, “I would give anything to be able to go back and redo that moment. The fall startled me and made me forget my speech and made me forget to thank important people…I didn’t thank David 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.”
Lawrence has kept a lower profile after the back-to-back releases of “mother!” and “Red Sparrow” in 2017 and 2018, respectively. She reprised her character of Mystique in 2019’s “X-Men” bomb “Dark Phoenix,” but the role was a minor one. Lawrence is now planning her return by leading Adam McKay’s Netflix comedy “Don’t Look Up” opposite Leonardo DiCaprio.
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