[WATCH] ‘Get to your feet & go to the light’: Brendan Fraser’s emotional speech

JOHANNESBURG – On 15 January, the Critics’ Choice Awards saw Brendan Fraser beat stars like Austin Butler, Colin Farell and Tom Cruise to take home the award for Best Actor.

Fraser, 54, who in the late 90s and early 2000s was known for his ‘action hero’ status, starred in popular films like The Mummy franchise, George of the Jungle, Bedazzled, and Looney Tunes: Back in Action.

Fraser delivered an emotional and passionate speech after taking home the Best Actor award for his role as Charlie in The Whale.

Portraying a lonely, obese teach who lives in his living room in the dark and never leaves his home, the character is described as self-destructive, with bad eating habits and an unhealthy lifestyle.

Throughout the movie, the audience saw Charlie’s journey through his layers and complexities that make him who he is.

The film follows three major themes – love, redemption and taking steps to “finding the light in a dark place”.

Fraser took the opportunity to use his platform to encourage and empower those who struggle with obesity or “are in a dark sea,” and can relate to his character, Charlie.

In his speech, he reminded those people to find strength and motivate themselves to find the light through the darkness.

He also thanked the film’s director, Darren Aronofsky.

“I was in the wilderness, and I probably should’ve left a trail of breadcrumbs. But you found me, and you merely just showed me where to go to get where I needed to be.”

In 2003, the _Badazzled _actor claimed that former head of the Golden Globes organising body the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), Philip Berk, groped him.

Berk was investigated by the HFPA, and they found he did touch Fraser inappropriately, but that it was not intended to be sexual. In 2021, he was expelled from the HFPA, after being exposed for slamming the Black Lives Matter movement.

In an interview with GQ, Brendan opened up about being deeply affected by what Berk did to him, saying he became depressed and wanted to retreat.

He also began to wonder if HFPA blacklisted him, owed to him was no longer being invited to events, and subsequently began to question who he was and his career.