Idina Menzelhad to get herself together afterJohn Travoltafamously botched up her name.
TheCinderellaactress, 50, recalled how it briefly threw her off whenTravolta mispronounced her namewhile introducing her performance ofFrozen’s “Let It Go” at the 2014 Oscars.
“I had eight seconds to say to myself, first, I felt really sorry for myself,” she said. “And then eight seconds the band starts, I was like, ‘Get yourself together, stop worrying that he messed up your name, sing b—-.'”
HerCinderellacostar, Billy Porter, who was in the car alongside Corden, Menzel andCamila Cabello, interrupted to say, “Sing! And you did! I was watching.”
“I was so nervous, I had meditated on this moment, I was going to sing to my son to really bring perspective to everything and then that happened,” she said, laughing.
Manny Carabel/Getty; Slaven Vlasic/Getty
Menzel added, “It was the greatest thing that ever happened. He’s written so many nice, apologetic emails. He’s so kind. To make up for it, he would just fly wherever at this point, he’s so sweet. I just always say, ‘No worries because it was the best thing that ever happened!'”
At the time, Travolta pronounced Menzel’s name onstage as “Adele Dazeem,” causing confusion among audiences watching but also introducing the Broadway star to a new viewership that had previously been unfamiliar with her work such as inRentandWicked.
Travolta spoke out after his flub, saying in a statement, “I’ve been beating myself up all day. Then I thought, what would Idina Menzel say? She’d say, let it go, let it go!”
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
He added, “Idina is incredibly talented and I am so happyFrozentook home two Oscars Sunday night!”
Menzel went on to perform “Into the Unknown” fromFrozen 2at the 2020 Academy Awards. The star teased Travolta before the ceremony on Twitter.
“When I was a little girl, I dreamed of moments like these,” she wrote online about the singing announcement, adding, “Who is brave enough to introduce me?”
source: people.com
