'Completely Misquoted': Sally Field Set The Record Straight On Her Famous Oscars Speech

Sally Field has played a host of memorable characters, from the perky 1960s beach bombshell Gidget to Mary Todd Lincoln in "Lincoln" and the kindly Aunt May in "The Amazing Spider-Man." (Field did turn down one role in a classic movie — "The First Wives Club" — because she didn't care for its stereotyping of older women.) But no matter how many roles she plays, she'll never be able to live down her famous 1985 Academy Awards "You like me!" speech. It may not have been one of the most controversial moments in Oscars history, but it spawned plenty of spoofs poking fun at the actor's supposed neediness. 

In a May 2026 interview with People (seen here on YouTube), Field set the record straight once and for all. Her infamous outburst, she explained, was a reaction to having won the acting award for a second time. In 1980, taking the honor for "Norma Rae," Field felt "so numb" and too uncomfortable to fully enjoy herself. Five years later, she was determined to savor the moment as she accepted her statuette for "Places in the Heart." 

"The way it's been completely misquoted," Field said, "is that the lead-up to it is that I say how hard it was for me to be here and how hard it was for me to see that I was here. And so right now, I wanted to take this moment and see it and own it for myself that for this one minute in time, maybe never again, you like me. You really like me. And that's what I said. ... But the reality is that I was talking to myself."

Sally Field's personal tragedies and hardships have both colored her life and made her screen performances all the stronger. Her stepfather, whom she calls "both wonderful and evil" in the People interview, subjected her to sexual abuse as a child; years later, Field's romance with Burt Reynolds — doomed from the start — echoed her past experience. "There were parts of Burt that were so wonderful and lovable, and then there were parts that were really frightening," she said. Taking on the role of Norma Rae Wilson, a millworker who helps unionize her factory, helped Field realize she didn't have to stay in a toxic relationship. "Norma at that time was exactly what I needed, because to learn how to stand in her shoes, I found my own legs," she said. "I started to grow up. I eventually just wouldn't be manipulated and humiliated like that."

The actor has gone on to play an impressive string of strong-woman roles, including Betty Mahmoody, escaping an oppressive regime in "Not Without My Daughter"; M'Lynn Eatenton, facing every mother's nightmare in "Steel Magnolias"; and her Oscar-winning turn as Edna Spalding of "Places in the Heart." Even after so many years in the business, though, Field has yet to feel confident on the red carpet. One of her three sons, Sam Greisman, accompanied her to the 2013 Oscars. "I never have, and don't think I ever will do this part of it very happily," she told the outlet. "But [Sam] gets it, and he helps me through it."

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).