Emma Thompson says campaigning for Oscar made her “seriously ill”

Emma Thompson has said that campaigning for an Oscar made her “seriously ill”.

Speaking to The Radio Times podcast, the Academy Award-winning actress described the process as “horrible”, adding that she she quickly developed an “allergy” to it.

• READ MORE: Oscars 2023 nominations: see the full list

“Both times I had to do the Oscars I got ill, quite seriously ill, before and during it,” she said.

“I just found the pressure of it and glare of it too much. It’s sort of astonishing – and then you think you want to lie down in a dark room. You think, ‘Please don’t ask me any questions or make me talk about myself’.

“It’s horrible. I quite quickly developed a sort of allergy to that, but it’s sort of part of the job.”

Thompson has been nominated for five Oscars in total: in 1993, she won the Best Actress award for Howards End; in 1994 for she was nominated for Best Actress for The Remains Of The Day and Best Supporting Actress for In the Name of the Father (winning neither); and in 1996 she was up for Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay for Sense And Sensibility – her win for the latter making her the only person who has Oscars for both acting and writing.

Asked about her experience of the fame her success has brought, she said: “Fame doesn’t happen overnight, it’s gradual.

“I’m lucky from that point of view; I think it must be awful if you have to deal with being James Bond, or one of those people who really can’t go anywhere. To lose your anonymity completely. It’s not very pleasant for you or the people around you.”

She added: “If that’s what you want, to be recognised, then I suppose you can deal with it, and it’s not so intrusive. But it’s not what I wanted, and I think it’s a highly toxic condition.”

Elsewhere, Oscars president Janet Yang recently admitted that the Academy’s response to Will Smith’s slap on Chris Rock was “inadequate”.

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