Kathy Bates reacts to learning she did thank her mother in Oscars speech

Memory is a tricky thing and Kathy Bates learned that on CBS Sunday Morning during an interview with journalist and TCM host Ben Mankiewicz.

Bates was discussing winning her Oscar for Best Actress in 1991 for Misery, and, as she recalled it, she neglected to thank her mother. Not so.

The actress and her mother had a difficult relationship and when she won the big prize, she remembers her mother being rather blasé about it.

“She said, ‘I don’t know what all the excitement is about, you didn’t discover the cure for cancer,” Bates tells Mankiewicz, adding, “I forgot to thank her that night.”

Mankiewicz then informs the Matlock star that she did, indeed, thank her mother, but Bates is adamant that she didn’t. Until he shows her a clip of her acceptance speech.

“I’d like to thank my family, my friends,” Bates begins in the clip, “my mom at home, my dad, who I hope is watching somewhere…”

When she sees that she thanked her mother, Bates’ face immediately drops and she puts her hands to her mouth in disbelief.

“Thank you! Why did I think I didn’t thank her,” an emotional Bates says. “Oh, what a relief.”

Asked why the fact she mentioned her mother meant so much to her, Bates says, “Because she should’ve had my life.”

“When she died, I said, ‘Come into me,'” Bates continues. “I wanted her spirit to come into me. Even though we had so many difficulties, I wanted her spirit to come into me and enjoy everything I was enjoying because of what she’d given up.”

After winning her Oscar, Bates went on to have a long, fruitful career in Hollywood, including three more Academy Award nominations, two Emmys, and a slew of other accolades. So it was no wonder audiences collectively clutched their pearls when the beloved actress intimated that she would be retiring after her latest role in CBS’ Matlock reboot.

However, Bates later clarified her statements, saying that she had “one foot out the door” before reading the Matlock script and now that she was a part of it, she hoped the series runs “for years.”