Jennifer Lawrence was dressed to impress when she walked the red carpet at the 85th Annual Academy Awards in Hollywood on Sunday, Feb. 24. What she didn’t anticipate, however, was that her Dior Haute Couture dress would be her downfall — literally.
“I am surprisingly comfortable. I kind of feel like a high-maintenance pain in the ass because there is a 5-foot circumference around me,” the 22-year-old actress told Us Weekly on the red carpet before the ceremony began. “I didn’t try any other dresses. When I put this one on, I knew.”
VIDEO: Watch Jennifer Lawrence trip at the Oscars
Ironically, Lawrence wasn’t worried about losing her footing while wearing the voluminous design. As she told Us, “My biggest fear is speaking in public, so I start to get fear and anxiety if I start to prepare [an acceptance speech] because I think of the moment. A lot of times on the walk up there is when I start thinking about what I’m going to say.”
Hours later, the Silver Linings Playbook star nabbed the Best Actress in a Leading Role title, besting fellow nominees Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), Emmanuelle Riva (Amour), Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild) and Naomi Watts (The Impossible). On her way to the stage, a visibly excited Lawrence face-planted on the stairs; Les Miserables‘ Hugh Jackman rushed to her aid, but the first-time winner and two-time nominee had already recovered.
“You guys are just standing up because you feel bad that I fell — it’s really embarrassing,” Lawerence told the audience. “This is nuts!”
The actress addressed the incident while speaking to reporters in the press room post-show. “What went through my mind when I fell down? A bad word that I can’t say that starts with ‘F,'” she said.
When one reporter asked what happened, Lawrence laughed. “What do you mean, ‘What happened?’ Look at my dress! I tried to walk up stairs in this dress. That’s what happened. I don’t actually . . . I think I just stepped on the fabric and they waxed the stairs.”
At the annual Governors Ball at the Hollywood & Highland Center, Lawrence’s Silver Linings Playbook costar (and Best Actress in a Supporting Role nominee) Jacki Weaver praised the young star for not letting the incident ruin her big night. “She is wonderful,” Weaver, 65, told Us. “But she tripped on her dress, poor thing!”
Lawrence, who will soon shoot the sequel to X-Men: First Class, already knows how she plans to celebrate her big win. “I see my couch,” she told Us. “I see TV. I see a bottle of wine!”
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