There’s nothing quite like the first time, right? While I’m sure a lot of people have discovered (or will soon) their favorite film among the 2025 movie schedule releases, very, very few of us will ever know what it’s like to win an Academy Award. However, Oscar winner Regina King has just compared the feeling to something that far more humans have probably experienced, and that, my friends, is smoking weed for the first time.
What Did Regina King Say About Winning An Oscar Feeling Like Smoking Weed?
While she had long been known for memorable roles in films like Boyz n the Hood, Jerry Maguire, Friday, Ray, Miss Congeniality 2, and more, it was the 2018 film If Beale Street Could Talk that turned Regina King into one of the few Black actors to win an Oscar. The former child star, who started acting at about 9 and had her first taste of fame as a teenager on the hit comedy 227, might now be on the short list of people who know what that feeling is like, but she’s made it easier for (some) of the rest of us to understand it.
When speaking to host Kelly Ripa on her Let’s Talk Off Camera podcast, the One Night in Miami director was asked about the experience of winning her Academy Award, and after discussing how her mom was sitting next to her and they both took a deep breath after her name was called, she described her “surreal” feelings, which…well, I’ll just let Ms. King explain:
I'm just gonna say it. So if anyone has ever smoked weed before, the very first time you ever smoke weed, everything is kinda like you're looking through a crystal ball, and everything is kind of hypersensitive that very first time.
Well, we’ve heard Jeffrey Wright call Oscar campaigning a “grind,” Michelle Yeoh note that she felt “acceptance” due to her win, and Jamie Lee Curtis say her win left her “very, very moved,” but I don’t think anyone has ever equated any of the Oscar process to getting high for the first time. Look at Regina; she’s just out here making firsts happen all over the place!
OK, admission from your friendly neighborhood writer, here: I’ve never smoked weed so I can only theoretically get what she’s talking about. I do completely understand that having your name announced as a winner on the live Oscar broadcast must be an odd feeling, though. As the social justice-leaning Watchmen series star (who’s also won four Primetime Emmys) noted, even though she and everyone else in her category had been working for many years at that point, it’s unlikely that anyone took their nominated role specifically to get an Oscar.
And yet, it’s also probably a moment that many in the industry have dreamt of having since they were kids, or young in their careers at least. So, to have such a dream come true would, understandably, be amazing, but also kinda weird to the point where none of it would seem completely real. King continued:
I think those of us who still continue to smoke weed, you know, you're chasing that first time. And every now and then, you'll get a new strain and you're like, 'Oh, wow, that feels close to the first time or whatever.’ But [it’s] nothing ever like that first time.
King also explained how her senses seemed heightened in the moment, and said that she felt she could “hear the hairs on my arms” stand on end, which is a totally wild thing to go through. Luckily, the star also noted that she “can fully remember” much of what she experienced on that night, and, hopefully, she’ll get another shot at such an event some time soon.
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