Marlee Matlin reveals awkward conversation she had with her then-BF William Hurt after she won the Oscars
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Marlee Matlin’s historic Oscars win at just 21 did not turn out to be as memorable as she would have liked. Matlin became the first deaf person to win Oscars and the youngest Best Actress recipient for her work in 'Children of a Lesser God' at the 1987 Oscars.
The four Primetime Emmy Award winner attended the ceremony with her co-star and then-boyfriend William Hurt who was also nominated that evening for Best Actor. However, as she disclosed in Dave Karger’s new book 50 Oscar Nights, the evening spiraled after her name was called.
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What did Marlee Matlin say?
“Bill congratulated me when I got the award. After I won, I stopped to look at the monitor to see if he had won the Oscars that night,” recalls Matlin, 58, in the new book, as per People. “When I found out that he didn’t win, my heart sank. I was afraid to see how he was going to react later at home, the fact that I won and he didn’t," she recalled.
What happened after Marlee Matlin and William Hurt left the show?
Things turned out to be even worse once the duo left the show. Matlin stated, “After the ceremony, Bill held my hand, and we found our limo. We got inside, sat down, and he was just staring at me. I could see him thinking. He was very quiet. And he said, 'So you have that little man there next to you. What makes you think you deserve it?' I looked at him like, What do you mean? And he said, 'A lot of people work a long time, especially the ones you were nominated with, for a lot of years to get what you got with one film.'"
She continued, "I didn’t even dare to argue with him. I thought to myself, Is he right? I mean, he was. But was he not happy for me?”
Marlee Matlin says the incident made her stronger
The two performers had long been separated by an age gap, having begun dating when Matlin was 19 years old and Hurt was 35. But, that evening, she recalled, "I was too stunned to talk. But it made me stronger. It just bounced off my back. It was my time. It was my night. And it was the beginning of my career. So f**k off. I left him a few months afterward, on July Fourth.”
William Hurt had reportedly sexually assaulted Marlee Matlin during their relationship
Matlin alleged in 2010 that Hurt had also sexually assaulted her during their relationship in her memoir 'I’ll Scream Later', writing that Hurt attacked her while she was sleeping, “threw me on the bed, started ripping off his clothes and mine” and raped her.
Hurt issued a statement following the publication of her memoir, saying, “My own recollection is that we both apologized and both did a great deal to heal our lives. Of course, I did and do apologize for any pain I caused. And I know we both have grown. I wish Marlee and her family nothing but good.”
Matlin praised the star's career while speaking with Entertainment Tonight following Hurt’s death in 2022 at age 71. “We’ve lost a really great actor and working with him on set in 'Children of a Lesser God' will always be something I remember very fondly," she said, adding "He taught me a great deal as an actor and he was one-of-a-kind.”
Matlin returned to the Oscars stage 35 years after her win to join her CODA cast when the Apple TV+ film won Best Picture at the 2022 Oscars, and cheered as her co-star Troy Kotsur became the first deaf man to win an Academy Award.
