Michelle Yeoh Says She ‘Confused’ Emma Stone When Handing Over Her Best Actress Oscar - Here’s Why
Stone's win during Sunday's ceremony made her a two-time Best Actress winner
Michelle Yeoh is clarifying why she handed Emma Stone's Oscar statuette to Jennifer Lawrence at the 96th Academy Awards.
Yeoh, Lawrence, and fellow past Oscar winners Charlize Theron, Sally Field, and Jessica Lange were on hand at Sunday's ceremony to present the award for Best Actress. Each gave a short speech about this year's nominees — Stone, Annette Bening, Lily Gladstone, Sandra Hüller, and Carey Mulligan — before the Poor Things actress was pronounced the winner.
As the now two-time Oscar winner walked onto the stage, she told the women that her custom Louis Vuitton gown had ripped before walking over to Yeoh, who was holding onto the statuette.
Yeoh, still holding onto the Oscar, walked over to Lawrence, who took it from her hands and presented it to Stone. After Stone said, "Thank you," she and Lawrence laughed before hugging each other.
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The exchange caused moviegoers to voice their confusion online, causing Yeoh to clear the air in an Instagram post on Monday.
"Congratulations Emma!! I confused you, but I wanted to share that glorious moment of handing over Oscar to you together with your best friend Jennifer!! She reminded me of my Bae Jamie Lee Curtis ♥️✨ always there for each other!! 😘😘😘," wrote Yeoh. The post included a picture of Yeoh smiling from ear to ear as Lawrence handed the Oscar to Stone.
Yeoh won the award for Best Actress in 2023 for her work on Everything Everywhere All at Once. Curtis also starred in the film and took home the win for Best Supporting Actress. Stone and Lawrence have also been long-time friends who first met through Woody Harrelson.
The on-stage exchange seemingly didn't seem to face Stone who delivered a speech in which she recognized her cast and crew members.
"The other night, I was panicking, as you can kind of see, happens a lot. That maybe something like this could happen, and [director] Yorgos [Lanthimos] said to me, 'Please take yourself out of it.' And he was right, because it's not about me. It's about a team that came together to make something greater than the sum of its parts. And that is the best part about making movies. It's all of us together," said Stone.
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Lawrence also expressed gratitude to her husband Dave McCary, and their daughter, Louise Jean McCary. Following the ceremony, the couple was seen celebrating the win at various Oscar afterparties.
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