Brody unexpectedly kissed Berry at the awards show in 2003. She got payback in 2025.

Halle Berry and Adrien Brody kissing in 2003, left, and 2025.

Halle Berry and Adrien Brody at the Oscars in 2003 and 2025. (Getty Images)

Best Actor winner Adrien Brody was the recipient of a so-called revenge kiss from Halle Berry at the 2025 Oscars.

On the red carpet before the show, Berry walked up to Brody, who was mid-interview and planted a kiss on him — 22 years after he unexpectedly smooched her onstage at the same awards show.

Brody was talking to Access Hollywood with his partner, designer Georgina Chapman, by his side when Berry emerged from the crowd and delivered the lip-lock.

“I’m sorry, Georgina, but I gotta do it,” Berry said before kissing Brody on the lips. The snog ended with them in a friendly embrace. Berry then gave a cheek peck to Chapman, and the three posed for a photo.

Berry called it a “payback” on Instagram. Brody replied with, “I LOVE YOU SOOO MUCH.”

The actress, who has been dating musician Van Hunt since 2020, told Extra that for two decades, “I’ve been waiting to get him on a red carpet and slap one on.” She also said that she did it because Chapman “was fine” with it.

Chapman told the same outlet, “How can you deny a man a kiss with Halle Berry?”

A callback to Brody unexpectedly kissing Berry in 2003

Brody went on to win the Oscar on Sunday night for The Brutalist. The last time he won an Oscar — 22 years ago for The Pianist — Berry, the Best Actress winner the year before for Monster’s Ball, presented him with the award and he pulled her into an unexpected kiss.

Brody said to Berry onstage, “I bet they didn’t tell you that was in the gift bag.”

Adrien Brody, left, and Halle Berry kissing onstage at the Oscars in 2003.

Brody suprised presenter Berry with a kiss at the 2003 Oscars. (Brian Vander Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

The photo of the kiss was everywhere the next day, including the cover of the New York Times. While there were lots of jokes about it — Brody re-created it with Queen Latifah at the MTV Movie Awards two months later and quipped about being “under a restraining order” when he presented the Best Actress Oscar the next year (though also squirting himself with breath spray) — there has been criticism, which has grown in more recent years, that he had violated Berry’s personal boundaries.

In 2017, Berry was asked on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen about what was going through her head when Brody kissed her — and she didn’t seem thrilled.

“What the f*** is happening?” she replied.

Adrien Brody, left, and Halle Berry, after she surprised him with a kiss on the red carpet on Sunday.

Berry and Brody’s 2025 lip-lock ended with a friendly hug. (Michael Buckner/Penske Media via Getty Images)

Berry said it wasn’t planned. However, she went on to graciously say that because she won the year before, she knew the feeling of being out of your body onstage.

So, “I just f***ing went with it,” she said.

Cohen asked whether the kiss was any good — an odd question for an unwanted kiss, but she answered, “I don’t know. I was too focused on ‘What the f*** is going on right now?’”

In 2008, Brody was asked by the Advocate if he would have kissed a male presenter in the same way he kissed Berry. He called the question “silly” and replied, “No, obviously not. Part of the excitement was that it was a beautiful woman presenting me with such a beautiful moment in my life.”

More than a decade later, Brody reflected on the kiss with Variety in February with a new perspective, saying, “We live in a very conscious time, which is a wonderful thing. And nothing that I ever do or have done or would’ve done is ever done with the intention of making anyone feel bad.”

Brody’s Best Actor speech

Cillian Murphy read the envelope announcing Brody as Best Actor winner on Sunday, so there was no big kiss onstage.

In Brody’s five-minute acceptance speech, he shouted out “my amazing partner, Georgina,” who he’s been in a relationship with since at least 2020. He credited her for “reinvigorat[ing] my own self-worth” and “my values.”

He also mentioned Chapman’s two children with her disgraced ex-husband, producer Harvey Weinstein, who was at the center of the #MeToo movement with more than 100 women accusing him of sexual misconduct.

“Dash and India,” Brody said during his speech at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on March 2, “I know it’s been a roller coaster, but thank you for accepting me into your life. Popsy’s coming home a winner.”