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Marlee Matlin, 58, was the first deaf person to win an Oscar in 1987, however, her late ex, William Hurt, was reportedly not impressed. The CODA star opened up about her former partner’s remarks in Dave Karger’s new book 50 Oscar Nights, which will be out on January 23. In an excerpt obtained by PEOPLE, Marlee claimed that she “was afraid” of what the late Body Heat star would say to her after he lost that evening and she won.
“Bill congratulated me when I got the award. After I won, I stopped to look at the monitor to see if he had won the Oscar that night,” the now 58-year-old said in the book, per the mag. “When I found out that he didn’t win, my heart sank. I was afraid to see how he was going to react later at home, the fact that I won and he didn’t.” That evening, William was nominated in the Best Actor in a Leading Role category for his work in, Children of a Lesser God. He lost to Paul Newman, who took home the Oscar for his work in, The Color of Money.
Although William presented his then-girlfriend with the Academy Award that night, he allegedly questioned if she deserved it during their car ride home. “After the ceremony, Bill held my hand, and we found our limo. We got inside, sat down, and he was just staring at me. I could see him thinking. He was very quiet,” Marlee explained in the book. “And he said, ‘So you have that little man there next to you. What makes you think you deserve it?’ I looked at him like, What do you mean? And he said, ‘A lot of people work a long time, especially the ones you were nominated with, for a lot of years to get what you got with one film.’”
After the starlet’s now-ex made the remark, she was left questioning herself. “I didn’t even dare to argue with him. I thought to myself, Is he right? I mean, he was. But was he not happy for me?” she continued. Marlee also revealed that she ended their relationship shortly after the Oscars that year. “I was too stunned to talk,” she added. “But it made me stronger. It just bounced off my back. It was my time. It was my night. And it was the beginning of my career. So f*** off. I left him a few months afterward, on July Fourth.”
William died decades later, in March 2022. At the time of his passing, Marlee opened up to Entertainment Tonight about his death. “We’ve lost a really great actor and working with him on set in Children of a Lesser God will always be something I remember very fondly,” she said at the time. “He taught me a great deal as an actor and he was one-of-a-kind.” Most recently, in 2022, Marlee took home the Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for her work in CODA, alongside her castmates at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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