The final awards ceremony before the Academy Awards took place over the weekend with the biggest names in Hollywood touching down in London for the BAFTAs. Everyone but Brad Pitt, that is.
Despite being nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Pitt unexpectedly didn’t show on the night, citing a “family obligation” for his absence. When he won the award as was expected, he passed his speech along to his co-star Margot Robbie to deliver.
In what went on to be one of the most talked-about parts of the entire night, Robbie took one for the team, reading out jokes about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on stage, in front of Prince William and Kate Middleton, something she’s now said she felt very “panicked” about.
margot robbie accepting brad pitt’s is everything and more pic.twitter.com/scyRrsYU5h
— mollie (@earpscorp) February 2, 2020
Speaking on Good Morning America, Robbie said, “The night before, [Brad] was like ‘Can you do my speech for me? I can’t be there.’”
“I was so panicked about his speech that I didn’t even think about preparing one for myself,” she said. “I was up for two, for both films in my category, and it was not until I was in the car on the way there that I was like ‘Oh my gosh, I hope I do not win because I don’t have anything to say,’” she continued.
Back in New York, Robbie, who’s currently doing a press tour for her new Suicide Squad film, said she was so distracted by Pitt’s request that she forgot to prepare a speech of her own should she win on the night – she was nominated twice in the Best Supporting Actress category for both OUTIH and Bombshell.
Thankfully, on the night, Laura Dern ended up winning in Robbie’s category for her role in Marriage Story.
It’s also been reported that the reason Pitt didn’t make the awards is because he was spending time with his eldest son, Maddox, who he fell out with in 2016 in an incident which took place on the family’s private plane. A few days later, Angelina Jolie filed for divorce.
“Maddox gave Brad the chance to talk and he dropped everything,” a source told the Sun. “Maddox has been away at university so when Brad found out he was going to be around and they could have a conversation, he canceled the UK trip.”
