Pauletta Washington was a guest on The Social last year. We all fell in love with her. She’s a performer too, and was supposed to have as big of a career as he does, only she made the choice to be with her family. She has a huge heart. She’s gracious, and generous, and spirited. She made us feel like we were all friends. Which is probably why I was more excited about her than anything else last night. Because, even though it may have been an illusion, it was like seeing someone I know. So I loved it when Denzel brought her up on stage with him, along with their children. It didn’t come across, at least not to me, that they were all just props. Rather, I got the sense that his point was that they are all essential. And that his honour would be incomplete if it wasn’t truly shared in that moment. He probably did a lot more sharing with Pauletta than either of them expected, what with him fumbling through his speech and all.
Denzel did however manage to tell a story about the Hollywood Foreign Press Association that, well, tells you everything how it all works at the Golden Globes:
“Some of you may know Freddie Fields (movie producer, Glory). He invited me to the first Hollywood Foreign Press luncheon. He said they are gonna watch the movie. We are gonna feed them. They are gonna come over. You gonna take pictures with everybody. You are gonna hold the magazines, take the pictures, and you're gonna win the award. I won that year.”
That happened in 1990. So in 26 years, Denzel Washington, while receiving a lifetime achievement honour, hasn’t rewritten in his mind how all that went down. If anyone is helping him keep it real, I’d like to believe it’s Pauletta.
