Despite many a tabloid photographing them together on what appeared to be dates since the filming of Mary Magdalene, neither of the actors had publicly commented on the nature of their relationship until now. During a post-ceremony press conference, Phoenix referred to Mara as his girlfriend when speaking about whether he thought he would win Best Actor, The Cut reports. "Before I came here, I told my girlfriend it was going to be a really good experience because I was going to get crushed and that would be really humbling," he said. "I thought it would be great to know what it’s like to be unanimously disliked. That was my expectation coming here, so this is, um, better."