Jennifer Coolidge Wins the Golden Globes (and a Golden Globe)

The 'White Lotus' actress is simply iconic.

Jennifer Coolidge at the 2023 Golden Globes
(Image credit: Christopher Polk/NBC/NBC via Getty Images)

At the Golden Globes this evening, White Lotus actress and fan-favorite Jennifer Coolidge presented the award for Best Supporting Actor in a TV Series/Musical Comedy (which Abbott Elementary's Tyler James Williams won).

Normally, a presenter's remarks aren't very, well, remarkable, but tonight, Coolidge spoke for well over a minute, charming the audience with the long, winding story of executive Cara Bishop calling her to ask if she would present at the ceremony.

"I said, 'Oh my God, that is such as honor. Yes, yes, I would love to,' and I hung up on her," Coolidge recalled. "And then I thought about it for a little bit and just had a complete anxiety attack."

In an episode of extraordinarily relatable overthinking, the actress envisioned several scenarios in which she ruined the ceremony, including slipping on the stage's waxed floors, finding herself unable to keep up with the teleprompter, not being able to find an executive in the audience tasked with holding up cue cards, and, most memorably, mispronouncing stars' names.

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"Once I say someone's name the wrong way," she insisted, "I'm screwed." To demonstrate, she told of a dinner party during which she was sitting beside Bill Nighy, whose name she mispronounced as something resembling Bill "Nye," and Kaley Cuoco, whom she called Kaley "Cocococo".

The speech was punctuated by shots of the crowd laughing at Coolidge's genius comedic delivery and timing, peaking when Coolidge finished her performance by joking, "And the Oscar goes to..."

But! Coolidge's night wasn't over yet!

The actress took home the Globe for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series for her role in White Lotus and delivered a second iconic monologue to accept the award. "You make people want to live longer, and I didn't," she said to the show's director, Mike White, thanking him because now, she says, her neighbors want to talk to her.

"This was a fun night," Coolidge told the crowd as she wrapped up her speech.

Officially nominating Jennifer Coolidge to present and accept every award at every awards show going forward.

Gabrielle Ulubay
Beauty Writer

Gabrielle Ulubay is a Beauty Writer at Marie Claire. She has also written about sexual wellness, politics, culture, and fashion at Marie Claire and at publications including The New York Times, HuffPost Personal, Bustle, Alma, Muskrat Magazine, O'Bheal, and elsewhere. Her personal essay in The New York Times' Modern Love column kickstarted her professional writing career in 2018, and that piece has since been printed in the 2019 revised edition of the Modern Love book. Having studied history, international relations, and film, she has made films on politics and gender equity in addition to writing about cinema for Film Ireland, University College Cork, and on her personal blog, gabrielleulubay.medium.com. Before working with Marie Claire, Gabrielle worked in local government, higher education, and sales, and has resided in four countries and counting. She has worked extensively in the e-commerce and sales spaces since 2020, and spent two years at Drizly, where she developed an expertise in finding the best, highest quality goods and experiences money can buy.

Deeply political, she believes that skincare, haircare, and sexual wellness are central tenets to one's overall health and fights for them to be taken seriously, especially for people of color. She also loves studying makeup as a means of artistic expression, drawing on her experience as an artist in her analysis of beauty trends. She's based in New York City, where she can be found watching movies or running her art business when she isn't writing. Find her on Twitter at @GabrielleUlubay or on Instagram at @gabrielle.ulubay, or follow her art at @suburban.graffiti.art