I didn’t talk about it in my 84th Academy Awards blog, but if you saw the show, you will know what I am talking about when I say “The Leg.” As expected, the arrival of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt caused a big stir on the Red Carpet. I didn’t watch them, but I did notice the she was presenting an award that night. She handed out the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, but it wasn’t the presentation that caused all the media attention, it was “The Leg.”
(The copyright holder of this work, Georges Biard, allows anyone to use it for any purpose including unrestricted redistribution, commercial use, and modification.)
After Jolie came out on stage, she unnaturally stuck her right leg out of the slit of her black, sleeveless dress and placed her left hand on her hip. It just looked uncomfortable and odd.
No mind you, Jolie has never been a stranger to odd. When she won her Oscar for Best Supporting Actress back in 2000, she gave her brother James Haven a passionate kiss, which sent the whole world uncomfortably squirming in its seat.
So compared to that, “The Leg” seemed tame. But still, everyone noticed. I cracked up when Jim Rash, who accepted an Oscar for The Descendants came up on stage in a suit and awkwardly struck a ridiculous pose with his right leg to make fun of Jolie. I read that “The Leg” had its own Twitter account within 30 minutes of making its appearance.
Later, I saw Red Carpet photos and again, the leg was stuck out there too. What was wrong? Was Jolie having back trouble and only that pose helped relieve the pain? Was it a big “Boom I Gotcha Man” shout out to Jennifer Aniston, ex-wife of Brad Pitt? Inquiring minds wanted to know what “The Leg” was all about.
This past week, some think they have an explanation. Rumors are circulating that Jolie used the leg to draw attention away from her waist, hidden behind a fairly fluffy dress for an award show, because she is pregnant.
If that is the case, it wouldn’t be terribly surprising. Jolie and Pitt have been notorious for remaining mum about past pregnancies. If she is pregnant, this will be the couple’s seventh child – three adopted (Maddox, Zahara, and Pax) and three Jolie gave birth to (Shiloh, Knox, and Viviene).