Don’t be fooled by the dapper suits and designer gowns, the Golden Globe awards is one big booze fest where everyone invited has yacht-sized fame and diamonds to spare. While our favourite stars appear demure on the red carpet, as soon as they step foot into the auditorium it’s play time.
Of course we’d love to be there frolicking among the raucous stars and film bigwigs, but we get the next best thing – we get to watch all the glitz and the mayhem from the comfort of our couches.
Year after year the Golden Globes gifts us countless memorable scenes and often downright outrageous moments that leave us utterly gobsmacked.
So, with the 2025 Golden Globes just around the corner, we take a look back at some of the most outrageous moments from the award show over the years.
Renée Zellweger’s ill-timed bathroom break
The Bridget Jones’ Diary actress had a bit of a Bridget moment herself when Hugh Grant announced her as the 2001 Golden Globe winner for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for Nurse Betty, and she was nowhere to be seen.
It was only after her co-star Hugh started to accept the award on her behalf that the actress appeared, making a beeline for the stage where she admitted she had been in the bathroom removing lipstick from her teeth.
Jack Nicholson admits he’s high on Valium
He’s won more Golden Globes than any other actor, and when it comes to the most outrageous acceptance speeches, Jack Nicholson also takes home the gong. The As Good As It Gets star’s most jaw-dropping speech happened in 2003 after he scored the globe for Best Actor in a Drama for About Schmidt.
While on stage, the actor quipped, ”I don’t know whether to be happy or ashamed because I thought we made a comedy… Dermot Mulroney, his haircut alone should have let you know it was a comedy.” He also took a jab at Nicole Kidman (“Doesn’t [she] look lovely with her old nose?”), and then explained his wacky behaviour by revealing: “I took a Valium tonight.”
When Emma Thompson became our martini-sipping hero
In 2014, while presenting the award for Best Screenplay, Emma Thompson walked on stage with her shoes in one hand and her martini in the other. Queen.
When it all proved too difficult to juggle her shoes, cocktail and the envelope, the actress chucked her shoes side-stage and handed her drink to the attendant.
Elizabeth Taylor forgets award show etiquette
Speculation swirled that Elizabeth Taylor had enjoyed a few cocktails before she appeared on the 2001 Golden Globes stage to announce the final award of the night. The Hollywood icon struggled to read the teleprompter while announcing the “Golden Glow” nominees before tearing into the envelope ahead of time.
“What is this for?” Elizabeth hilariously asked of the envelope. Show producer, Dick Clark rushed to her side to help the glamorous star. “I guess I’m more used to receiving awards rather than giving them,” she quipped.
Lara Flynn Boyle’s ballerina blunder
The Golden Globes red carpet has seen plenty of questionable gowns, but none other caused a stir like Lara Flynn Boyle’s tutu at the 2003 award show.
There was a lot of talk about how the Twin Peaks actress’s choice of black-tie attire missed the mark.
Ricky Gervais insults the Sex And The City gals
Time and time again, former Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais took to the stage to go hard at his Hollywood peers. And while over the years he had some savage remarks, none made us gulp like the time he dropped a viscous line about the Sex And The City cast in his monologue for the 2011 show.
“There were a lot of big films that didn’t get nominated this year. Nothing for Sex And The City 2. I was sure the Golden Globe for special effects would go to the team that airbrushed that poster. Girls, we know how old you are. I saw one of you in an episode of Bonanza.”
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler take down the men of Hollywood
Former hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s opening monologues were always comedic genius.
And how could we forget the time the ladies took down Hollywood king George Clooney in 2014: “George Clooney married Amal Alamuddin this year. Amal is a human rights lawyer who worked on the Enron case; was an adviser to Kofi Annan regarding Syria; and was selected for a three-person UN commission investigating rules of war violations in the Gaza Strip. So tonight… her husband is getting a lifetime achievement award.”
Bravo!
Amber Heard and Jaimie Alexander vs the teleprompter
It was a case of ‘technical difficulties’ in 2016 that sent the audience into awkward laughter when actresses Amber Heard and Jaimie Alexander had a battle with the teleprompter.
While presenting at the 2016 Golden Globes, the starlets struggled to read their lines until Jaimie cursed, “Dude, who’s typing this sh–?”
Ryan Reynolds and Andrew Garfield steal Gosling’s limelight with a pash
Ryan Gosling may have won the award for best actor at the 2017 Golden Globes… But Ryan Reynolds won the best reaction to losing an award.
Dealing with the fallout, the Deadpool actor decided to lock lips with fellow nominee Andrew Garfield.
The year the show did not go on
In 2008, actors, writers, producers and basically most people with a ticket, vowed to boycott the glitzy show in support of the writers’ strike, leaving the HFPA with no other choice than to cancel the Golden Globes.
Instead a much scaled-down press conference was held to announce the winners. Reportedly, costing broadcaster NBC $10 and $15 million in lost revenue.
