Angelina Jolie’s Controversial Kiss With Her Brother: A Moment That Overshadowed Her Historic Oscar Win

When Angelina Jolie won her first Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1999 for her role in Girl, Interrupted, it should have been one of the biggest moments of her career. However, Jolie’s acceptance speech was quickly eclipsed by a highly unusual moment that ended up stealing the spotlight.

As Jolie made her way to the stage to accept the award, cameras caught her embracing her brother, James Haven, and the two sharing what many deemed an inappropriate and overly passionate kiss on the lips. The shocking display left many viewers and audience members stunned, and it rapidly became the main story coming out of that year’s Academy Awards ceremony.

In the aftermath, Jolie was forced to address the kiss, explaining that it was simply a display of sibling affection and that there was nothing romantic or inappropriate about it. “I am delighted to be here and I’m delighted that my brother is here with me,” she said backstage. “He’s the one that took me and that’s the truth.”

However, the damage was already done. Instead of focusing on Jolie’s landmark achievement as the youngest person to ever win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, the media frenzy was entirely consumed by the strange kiss. It became a punchline and a source of endless ridicule, overshadowing what should have been one of the proudest moments of Jolie’s career.

To this day, the infamous Jolie-Haven kiss remains one of the most bizarrely memorable moments in Oscars history, a confounding and awkward incident that stole the shine from a hard-earned and historic victory. It’s a reminder that even the biggest triumphs can be upstaged by the most unexpected and perplexing behaviors.