Growing up watching the Award shows with my family, I always wondered what happens behind the scenes. For example, if an actor, director, or filmmaker forgets to thank their significant other, then I expect a huge backlash, fist fights, or even crocodile tears; But, I may have watched too many episodes of Maury.
But, it still begs the question: What happens when an Oscar winner forgets to thank their significant other? Well, thanks to researchers over at The Hollywood Reporter, we finally know the answer.
According to the study, Hollywood relationships are more than 20% more likely to fail, if filmmakers forget to thank their significant other.
The Hollywood Reporter went through 30 years’ worth of acceptance speeches — every acting award given from 1986 to 2015, 120 in all — and confirmed that of the 90 winners who were married or in a relationship during their Academy Award win, 32 did not thank their partners, and 60 percent ended up consciously uncoupling down the road. Out of the nearly two-thirds of those winners who thanked their partners in their acceptance speeches — 40 percent split anyway.
In addition, there is apparently some kind of ‘Oscar love curse’, where women who win an award end up breaking up with their husband or boyfriend.
THR also found truth to the theory of an “Oscar love curse” — which suggests that women who win best actress typically go on to break up with their partner. In fact, more women than men ended up splitting after their Oscar win, as a whole, whether they thanked their partner or not.
Ouch.
However, just like my College statistics professor told me while I was in class, correlation does not always mean causation. Therefore, there’s no clear evidence that forgetting Oscar-Thank Yous actually, hurt relationships. It’s pretty interesting to see that something is happening behind the scenes.
