There’s nothing more democratizing than the Vanity Fair Oscar party, where almost everyone in the room is so famous that no star really sticks out — and everyone leaves via Santa Monica Boulevard in what feels like a school pickup for celebrities. As the storied event wrapped up close to midnight Sunday, guests huddled under heat lamps, awaiting their names being publicly blasted by the traffic coordinator. Many sported the free hotel slippers offered at the roadside departure tent, shivering until it was their long-awaited turn to hop in a Sprinter van.
Fortunately, before everyone left to ice their feet — or head to Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s no-press-allowed Gold Party — The Times got the inside scoop on all the best gossip happening inside . Here are four of the most memorable moments:
1. Lenny Kravitz: World’s biggest undercover Kylie Minogue fan? That certainly seemed to be the case when he approached the “Padam Padam” singer, dramatically dipped her in his arms and showered her with praise for a solid five minutes. “You! You’re a badass!” he shouted. “No, I love you. For real, babe. Respect.”
2. Sure, the Vanity Fair party takes place a stone’s throw from Funke, the trendy Italian restaurant in Beverly Hills. But not every celebrity at Sunday night’s bash was familiar with the eatery, where Kim Kardashian celebrated her 43rd birthday last year. The establishment’s chef, Evan Funke, was manning a pizza oven on the outdoor patio to offer guests pieces of pie.
“That was the best pizza I’ve ever had,” Melissa McCarthy told Funke after trying a white slice tinged with lemon.
“Oh, yeah?” he replied. “Do you want to come to my restaurant and eat? I’ll give you my card.”
(Evan Agostini / Invision / Associated Press )
The comedian took his information and put it into her bedazzled cannoli-shaped purse, which was attracting the attention of everyone at the pizza bar. “It was, like, $20. I thought it was funny, like, ‘Leave the gun, take the cannoli,’” she said, referring to a line from “The Godfather.”
She closed her bag and walked away, as Funke pulled aside his colleague and smiled. “She has my card now,” he whispered.
3. After flying to Singapore to watch Sabrina Carpenter open for Taylor Swift during the Eras tour, it seems that Barry Keoghan is all in on his new girlfriend. The two were inseparable throughout the night, with Keoghan openly grabbing Carpenter’s butt nearly any time he trailed behind her.
Carpenter seemed happy to show off her new beau too, introducing him to any friend she encountered in the crowd. When she brought him face-to-face with Claudia Sulewski, Finneas O’Connell’s partner, she did make a point of explaining his outfit choice.
“He’s not a slut. He had a jacket on,” she said, referring to the mesh, see-through tank top the “Saltburn” star was now sporting.
O’Connell interjected to hand Carpenter the Oscar statue he’d just won for original song. She pretended to be overcome by its weight, and then Sulewski took a photo of her cradling the trophy as if it were a baby. Carpenter then tried to give it to Keoghan, but he refused, motioning at the statue as if it were a hot potato he was superstitious about jinxing.
Vanessa Hudgens arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar party in Beverly Hills on Sunday.
(Evan Agostini / Invision / Associated Press )
The new couple did manage to pry themselves away from one another for a few moments, during which Keoghan approached Larry David. “I just want to say I’m a huge fan,” the Irish actor said to the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star, who was slumped halfway down in a chair looking miserable. “Anyway, I’ll let you be.”
Carpenter, meanwhile, joined in with a bunch of women admiring Vanessa Hudgens’ pregnancy body. “You should teach a master class in how to serve while pregnant,” offered Joey King. “I want to get pregnant just so I can have those boobs,” Carpenter added.
4. Just because you’ve done a show with Jennifer Coolidge does not mean she’ll always remember you. Sydney Sweeney, who co-starred with the comedian in the first season of “White Lotus,” eagerly approached Coolidge, only to be met with a momentarily perplexed face.
“Hi,” Coolidge replied politely, before recognizing that Sweeney was not an interloper but a colleague. “Oh, my God! Hi!”
To be fair, Sweeney did debut a new lob haircut Sunday night. But the friend seated with Coolidge had no trouble recognizing the young star, immediately launching into a series of questions about her recent stint hosting “Saturday Night Live.”
“The hardest part was changing costumes as we were moving live and running over to the next scene,” she told Coolidge and her guest.
Her story was interrupted by Riz Ahmed, who told both actors that he was a fan and then asked if they were at the ceremony earlier in the evening. When they replied they hadn’t been, Ahmed took the opportunity to tell them what they’d missed. “They did this thing that was actually super emotional where they had old winners come out and present to the new ones,” he said. “It was really pretty emotional.”