In a new interview with You magazine, actress Lucy Boynton opened up about how it felt to watch her boyfriend Rami Malek declare his love for her during his 2019 Oscar
acceptance speech. Malek had won best actor for his role as Freddie Mercury in the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. Boynton also had a lead part in the film, playing Mercury’s best friend Mary Austin. That's where they met and they've been together ever since.
“Lucy Boynton, you are the heart of this film, you are beyond immensely talented, you have captured my heart,” said Malek during his speech. “Thank you so much.”
Boynton said in her interview that the attention the moment would get took her by surprise.
“It sounds so silly but I was really unaware of the public element of that,” she said. “You're just absorbing, millisecond by millisecond, what is happening, and then suddenly you hear the applause and you realize it's been a public moment, which is slightly strange.”
Despite the success of her career and support of her boyfriend, Boynton also opened up about her struggles with self-esteem.
“When you enter new environments it can be really intimidating, but I try to remember that everyone feels that way,” she said. Boynton explained that she has a friend who is a doctor who told her that lawyers and news anchors often take beta blockers to slow their heart rate and deal with anxiety, which made her understand she's not the only one dealing with those feelings.
“You realize how much you project on to other people that they’re impenetrable, and you’re the only one who’s anxious and ‘less than,’” she said.
But Boynton added that she had some advantages when it came to her own issues.
“I've grown up in a very creative environment,” she said. “That doesn't follow a specific structure, and that has been freeing, because when my job hasn't followed a specific path there's been no panic.”