The 95th Academy Awards popularly known as Oscars 2023 took place on 12th March 2023 in Los Angeles. The Oscars is the most important and prestigious honor in the American Entertainment Industry. Another thing famous with Academy Awards is the ‘Oscar Curse.’ Oscar Curse is the longest and most believed superstition that has feared Hollywood's most acclaimed actors for decades. Taking home, the Academy Award for Best Actor or Actress is probably the pinnacle of success for a celeb but many feel it is a starting point of downfall for their career. Allegedly, the curse is associated more with actresses as compared to actors. Although many have stated this curse as a myth because various best Actresses have gone on to become top actresses after winning the best actress.
What is Oscar Curse?
The idea of Oscar curse dates back many years back with numerous examples for its existence. Many pointed out that after winning the academy award, many Best Actress winners struggled to find further roles while many faced problems in their personal lives. There are speculations that whosoever takes Oscar home are jinxed to have bad luck for the rest of their lives. This Oscar curse does not come upon every person who wins the award but those who wins for lead roles and especially woman.
Examples of Actresses who were cursed during Oscars
Gwyneth Paltrow: She won Oscar for Best Actress in 1999 for "Shakespeare in Love". However, it was the biggest achievement of her career but post Academy Awards she lost momentum in working. Due to this she parted ways from acting and did not come back for several years.
Halle Berry: Another example is Halle Berry who won Best Actress for "Monster's Ball" in 2002. Post winning the Oscar she gave series of box-office disappointments and struggled to find roles that with be perfect for her.
Renee Zellweger: She is another actress who makes us believe in the Oscar curse. She won Best Supporting Actress Oscar for "Cold Mountain" in 2004 and her career went through quite a shaky path post this. Although she made a comeback in 2019 with film ‘Judy.’
Charlize Theron: Post-winning the Oscar for Best Actress in 2004 for "Monster", Theron struggled to find roles that lived up to the critical and commercial success of Monster.
Many consider Oscar Curse to just be a myth as there are also various examples of stars winning Oscars for Best Actress and continued to give some of the most successful films of their careers. Not only this, there were several actresses who rubbished the rumors saying that neither did they suffer a problem on professional front nor was their personal life ruined after winning award.