Halle Berry and Adrien Brody have made headlines at the 2025 Academy Awards tonight after recreating the controversial moment Brody kissed Berry onstage at the 2003 Oscars. Posing for pictures together and kissing on the red carpet, the duo laughed about the moment alongside Brody’s girlfriend, Georgina Chapman.
Don’t remember the scandalous kiss? Well, allow us to revisit it for you. At the 75th Academy Awards, Adrien Brody was nominated for his performance in The Pianist, a biographical war film directed by the controversial Roman Polanski. At the time, he was the youngest of the nominees in his category, and he was up against some of the greats— Daniel Day Lewis was nominated for Gangs of New York, Michael Caine for The Quiet American, Jack Nicholson for About Schmidt and Nicolas Cage for Adaptation. Despite Daniel Day Lewis being widely regarded as the favourite to win at the time, Adrien came out on top, and he took to the stage to accept his very first Oscar.
Presenting the award was Halle Berry, who had earned her own golden statuette the previous year for her performance in Monster’s Ball. As Adrien took the award, he swept the actress into his arms and planted a passionate kiss on her mouth. The crowd erupted in thunderous applause and laughter and eventually took their seats to hear the actor’s acceptance speech. As he began addressing the audience, he turned to Berry and as she was wiping her mouth said, ‘I bet they didn’t tell you that was in the gift bag.’
Years later on Watch What Happens Live!, a caller asked the actress whether the incident was planned, to which she quickly responded, ‘No. It was not planned, I knew nothing about it.’
She then turned to host Andy Cohen and asked, ‘Can I say it for real?’ When he agreed, urging her to be honest, she continued, ‘I was like, “What the f*ck is happening right now?” That is what was going through my mind. And because I was there the year before and I know the feeling of being out of your body, I just f*cking went with it. But I was like, “What the f*ck is going on right now?”’
When pushed for details on how the kiss was, she responded, ‘I don’t know, I was too focused on, “What the fuck is going on?” I don’t even know.’
In 2015, Adrien also commented on the kiss in an interview with Vanity Fair, but in a stark contrast he spoke about it fondly. He said, ‘That was probably one of the most memorable moments. If ever you could say time slow down, that was that moment where I really felt it slow down. In fact, it must have because by the time I got finished kissing her and people settled in, they were already flashing the sign to say, “Get off the stage, your time is up.”’
However, this year he had slightly more to say about the controversial moment. ‘We live in a very conscious time, which is a wonderful thing,' he said when asked about it by Variety. 'And nothing that I ever do or have done or would’ve done is ever done with the intention of making anyone feel bad.’
Recently, a clip of the kiss has been circulating online, with comments showing people’s discomfort with it. One TikTok user commented, ‘Back then I always wondered if she was okay with it or just didn’t want to be seen negatively if she pushed him away,’ with another writing that the kiss was ‘disrespectful to her husband at the time.’
One woman told Grazia, ‘If Halle had been in on the joke, then it would have been another story, but the fact is it’s really unclear from a public perspective. What was she meant to do in front of a live audience and hundreds of thousands of viewers at home? Push him off? We all know that wouldn’t have been received well at the time.’
While Adrien has changed his attitude to the viral moment in recent years, incidents like this are far from a thing of the past. Earlier this month, former Spanish football official Luis Rubiales was found guilty of sexual assault and fined €10,800 for kissing player Jenni Hermoso without her consent during the 2023 World Cup. At the time, many called for her to forget the incident and branded it simply a moment of celebration, but beneath the action lay a deeper disrespect, and one that he was justly punished for.
Whatever their feelings on the matter today, Halle Berry and Brody have clearly put the controversy aside in recreating the moment, and Berry recently commented her support beneath Adrien Brody’s post about winning a Golden Globe. The actress wrote, ‘Congratulations my friend. You are truly one of one!’