Michelle Yeoh is happy to explain why she gave the Best Actress Oscar trophy to Jennifer Lawrence to hand to winner Emma Stone during the Academy Awards show broadcast. It truly was all about letting Stone and Lawrence, two longtime close friends, have a special moment.
“Congratulations Emma!!” Yeoh wrote on Instagram. “I confused you, but I wanted to share that glorious moment of handing over Oscar to you together with your best friend Jennifer!! She reminded me of my Bae Jamie Lee Curtis ♥️✨ always there for each other!! 😘😘😘”
You can see footage of the handoff below:
In her acceptance speech, Stone acknowledged all five women on stage. In addition to Yeoh and Lawrence, Jessica Lange, Charlize Theron, and Sally Field were also presenters for the award.
“The women on the stage, you are all incredible, and the women in this category: Sandra [Hüller], Annette [Bening], Carey [Mulligan], Lily [Gladstone], I share this with you,” Stone started her speech. “I am in awe of you, and it has been such an honor to do all of this together. I hope we get to keep doing more together.”
Lawrence actually interviewed Stone for ELLE in 2018, and both actresses touched on the importance of their relationship. Lawrence asked Stone why friendship is so important to her.
“I think friendship is pretty much everything,” Stone answered. “Here’s another turning-30 thing I’ve realized: You pick your family. You realize that your friendships, the people who go with you into these next phases of your life—you’re choosing your family.”
Lawrence then asked what quality is most important in friendship. Stone responded, “loyalty is enormous.” She added to Lawrence, “You’ve been one of my most loyal friends for years. And I think knowing that you can laugh together and that not everything has to be such a big deal.”