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, 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.'

Chris Rock, the stand-up comic who presented last year's event, came up with an interesting way of overcoming his nerves. Asked by Oprah Winfrey how he managed to stay calm, he said: 'I yell at myself. I come out of my body and start smacking myself, 'Boy, you'd better get out there and do that!' I become my dad.'

When Ben Affleck and Matt Damon won the best screenplay Oscar for 1997's Good Will Hunting, Matt Damon was so nervous that he giggled all the way through their acceptance speech. 'Losing would suck and winning would be really scary, and it's really, really scary,' said Affleck, as his former high-school pal seemed to be too overcome with terrified laughter to say anything.

Julia Roberts won the best actress award for Erin Brokovich in 2001. She was delighted by her win, but was so intimidated by the run-up to the ceremony that in her speech she described it as 'an out-of-body experience.'

Billy Crystal, the comedian and actor who has hosted the Oscars a total of eight times, admits to being on edge all the way through, despite all his experience. `It's incredibly nerve-wracking because the world is a rough room. A billion people are watching you. You have to keep the balance of the evening moving, hopefully be witty, hopefully be spontaneous if something happens, and get out of the way of the show after a while. It's a big job and a hard one.'

Nicole Kidman was nominated for best actress for The Hours. Just before they announced the winner, her daughter leant over and said 'You're going to win, Mommy' and she became completely panic-stricken. When she arrived backstage after picking up her award, Nicole could barely contain herself. 'I'm a little giddy. I don't know what I said,' she admitted afterwards.

Stunning British actress Kristin Scott Thomas was nominated for her role in the award-winning romance The English Patient in 1997. Asked by reporters how she would cope with nerves, she replied: 'Well, I was absolutely terrified before the Golden Globes. I was terrified I was going to do something terrible and pass out or roll about on the floor, kicking and screaming.' Scott Thomas didn't win the Oscar - in fact it went to Frances McDormand - but whatever she was feeling inside, she did manage to keep her trademark cool.

Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett, who landed the coveted award for portraying Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator, confessed that her nerves almost got the better of her, and she had to keep telling herself not to trip up. 'I kind of blanked out' she said.



Svelte actress Hilary Swank, who had already won a surprise Oscar for her role in Boys Don't Cry, found herself nominated for a second award after starring in the Clint Eastwood directed Million Dollar Baby. But Swank confessed the awards are nerve-racking, even if you've already won an Oscar. 'It's certainly not any easier' she told reporters with feeling. 'You're still just as nervous.'

Lord of the Rings star Liv Tyler was so nervous when presenting the 2004 Oscars that she could only be calmed by Tim Robbins at the star-studded ceremony. The stunning actress admitted that she was petrified. 'I have horrible stage fright' she explains. 'On the night I looked at Tim Robbins, and that kind of made me feel better. He smiled up at me and I was like, 'Oh, friend!''

'I was totally stressed, beyond nervous' says Hollywood veteran Lauren Bacall, of her Oscar nomination for the Barbra Streisand film The Mirror has Two Faces. 'I did my best - trying to look relaxed as though I was enjoying myself. I doubt I was very convincing'. When Kevin Spacey came out with the envelope in his hand, Bacall said her heart was pounding so loud, she thought she would faint. The winner was Juliette Binoche, for The English Patient. 'I felt so badly for my children. I felt very alone,' Bacall said afterwards.

Forget the ceremony - even at the 2004 Oscar rehearsals, Renee Zellweger was suffering from such an attack of nerves that a friendly celebrity escort attempted to console her. 'She was looking really worried, so I tapped her on the shoulder, said I thought she'd win and that my fingers were crossed for her. Then I gave her the luck of the Irish,' says Carl Leon. 'Renee smiled and thanked me, then of course she won best supporting actress for Cold Mountain.'

Sofia Coppola always looks unruffled and serene, even when accepting her best original screenplay Oscar, which she won for Lost in Translation. In fact, she told reporters: 'I'm really very shy and my nerves make my stomach do somersaults whenever I have to get up in front of a crowd - to say nothing of a billion people at the Oscars! So, my way to handle it is to talk slowly and seem like nothing bothers me - but it's just because I'm a basket case when it comes to things like that.'

Much to the amusement of media commentators, fragile beauty Gwyneth Paltrow broke down in tears during her Oscar speech, after winning the best actress award for Shakespeare in Love. Even now she hides her Oscar statuette away, rather than be constantly reminded of the trauma of the evening. At first, she kept it in storage. Now she says: 'I keep it tucked away at the back of the bookshelf in my bedroom because it weirds me out.'

Oscar-winner and superstar Tom Hanks will never forget his first Oscar nomination, for his starring role in the film Big. 'Oh, that was a rough one. Oh, boy' he says, of his Academy ordeal. 'I was essentially nobody. But you get out and there's a riot going on. It's the most glamorous, well-dressed riot you've ever seen. And as soon as you put on the monkey suit, boy, all the nerves start jangling.'