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18 Academy Award Winners Whose Careers Were Never The Same After They Won

Some may argue that winning an Oscar is more of a curse than a blessing.

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🔥 People are talking about the Oscars 2024

With the Oscars right around the corner, I started thinking about some of the past winners. So my attention was grabbed when I came across a couple of older Reddit threads (like this one from a few months ago, and this one from a year ago) about the "Oscars curse." I continued with my deep dive and found more sources backing up the discussions on Reddit.

Stage with Oscar statue and "OSCARS" onscreen, with audience in foreground

Essentially, the "Oscars curse" is the idea that an actor or director experiences a decline in their personal or professional life after receiving the award. While of course many actors and directors continue to flourish in their careers post–Oscar win, it's still an interesting phenomenon with some truth to it.

Multiple Oscar statuettes lined up on a table ahead of an awards ceremony