Denzel Washington has admitted he became “bitter” after one particular awards show defeat.

Having already picked up his first Oscar in the Best Supporting Actor category for Glory in 1990, the US star picked up his fourth nomination a decade later for his leading performance in The Hurricane.

On the night, Denzel lost out to Kevin Spacey for his performance in American Beauty, an experience he reflected on in a wide-ranging new interview with Esquire magazine.

“I have a memory of turning around and looking at him, and nobody was standing but the people around him. And everyone else was looking at me,” he recalled.

Denzel quickly clarified: “[I’m not saying] that it was this way. Maybe that’s the way I perceived it. Maybe I felt like everybody was looking at me. Because why would everybody be looking at me? Thinking about it now, I don’t think they were.”

“I’m sure I went home and drank that night,” he continued. “I had to. I don’t want to sound like, ‘Oh, he won my Oscar’, or anything like that. It wasn’t like that.

“And you know, there was talk in the town about what was going on over there on that side of the street, and that’s between him and God. I ain’t got nothing to do with that. I pray for him. That’s between him and his maker.”

Denzel went on to say that around this period, he distanced himself from the Oscars, declining the opportunity to watch nominated films or cast any votes.

“I told [Pauletta Pearson, Denzel’s wife], I don’t care about that. Hey: They don’t care about me? I don’t care. You vote. You watch them. I ain’t watching that,” he said.

“I gave up. I got bitter. My pity party. So I’ll tell you, for about 15 years, from 1999 to 2014 when I put the beverage down, I was bitter. I don’t even know offhand what movies I made then—I guess John Q, Manchurian Candidate. But I didn’t know I was bitter.”

Denzel would eventually pick up his second Oscar two years later for his work in Training Day.

The 10-time nominee is once again at the centre of awards buzz thanks to his performance in the new Gladiator sequel, which is in cinemas now, as is his co-star Paul Mescal.

Read Denzel Washington’s interview in Esquire here.