Oscar night fright

Hollywood's A-listers should be the most self-confident people in the world. Nowhere is this dazzling display more in evidence than at the annual star-fest which is Oscar night. But the truth is that no matter how cool and collected they appear, no matter how ravishing, many of the biggest names on show at the Oscars are actually nervous wrecks

fashion king Bob Mackie has called the Oscars 'the most terrifying, neurosis-making event of the year'. A Los Angeles doctor who prescribes anti-anxiety drugs to a number of celebrity patients says, 'Celebrities know they're going to be in the limelight and the fact that so many people will be watching them makes them more nervous.'

Health-conscious celebs are more likely to resort to calming techniques like deep-breathing and positive visualisation to ease their Oscar nerves. Rescue Remedy, an all-natural stress reliever which is known as 'yoga in a bottle', was given to all Oscar presenters at the last awards. Jennifer Aniston, Salma Hayek and Cate Blanchett have all been known to put a few drops under their tongue to relieve red carpet anxiety.

Find out how these big names coped in years past: Natalie Portman Beyonce Knowles Chris Rock Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Julia Roberts Billy Crystal Nicole Kidman Kristin Scott Thomas Cate Blanchett Liv Tyler Lauren Bacall Renee Zellweger Hilary Swank Sofia Coppola Gwyneth Paltrow Tom Hanks

Natalie Portman, nominated for an Oscar last year for her role in Closer, recently confessed that she was so nervous when the nomination was announced that she almost had an unfortunate accident. 'I think I peed myself a little bit' she said. 'I kept thinking, I don't want to go up, I don't want to have to stand there on stage'. As a result, when she lost the award to Cate Blanchett, she was actually hugely relieved. 'The not-winning part was a comfort,'; she said. 'Maybe one day I'll get to the point where I'll enjoy hearing my name called.'

When Beyonce Knowles performed at last year's event, she had to summon up even more poise and professionalism than usual, because she had to hide the fact that her shoe had broken as she sang! The Destiny's Child star still managed to perform three of the Oscar-nominated tunes, despite the fact that her ear monitor wasn't working. 'So the song started and I'm thinking 'Oh God, my shoe's not on, my monitor's not on, and this is going to be embarrassing. I'm going to fall down the stairs. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, my shoe is off, and it's stuck in the tulle of the bottom of the dress. I'm singing on one tiptoe, and I'm trying to balance... It was a mess.'