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[Wide shot: soft lighting, horizon blur, two chairs. Kate sits across from an interviewer. A Gayle/Oprah/Diane type. Kate wears a tailored, muted dress. Hair down. Minimal makeup. A woman in control…fraying just underneath.]

KATE (soft smile, posture easy but guarded) Hi.

INTERVIEWER Kate Bishop. Woman of the year. Thanks for sitting down.

KATE Thanks for having me.

INTERVIEWER So for anyone living under a rock…let’s talk about the year you’ve had. A chart-topping album. A sold-out arena tour. And a film performance so quietly devastating, you’re now the frontrunner in one of the most competitive Oscar races in recent history. At thirty-two…

KATE Not quite. Still thirty-one for a few more months.

[They laugh. Easy rhythm. Controlled.]

INTERVIEWER Even more impressive. At thirty-one, you’ve gone from teen idol to full-blown industry force. Grammy wins. Golden Globe. BAFTA. Critics’ Choice. SAG. And now, a third Oscar nomination…your first as the clear favorite. If you win, it would be a historic clean sweep.

[Montage plays over her voice:

-Kate on stage at the Grammys, holding her mic, blinking back tears. -Sweeping into the BAFTAs in a floor-length black velvet gown, cameras flashing. -Rehearsal footage. -Laughing behind-the-scenes. -Accepting her Critics’ Choice, visibly shaken. -The now-iconic Oscar clip: pale, bruised, trembling in a hospital bed. -Golden Globes. The standing ovation. The stunned face. The lonely freeze-frame, if you look too long.]

INTERVIEWER How are you even standing?

KATE Coffee. Adrenaline. Bribery from my publicist.

Kate smiles. Self-deprecating. Deflecting.

INTERVIEWER What does it feel like…this moment? Genuinely.

KATE (long breath) It’s…surreal. This whole season has been. I’ve been doing this a long time. So to have it all kind of line up like this…It feels like lightning. I’m just trying to hold the bottle still long enough to catch it.

[More clips: The tour. The Venice premiere. Screaming fans. The cover shoots. The front-row fashion moments. Back to the set.]

INTERVIEWER Do you let yourself enjoy it?

KATE Sometimes. When I’m not thinking about what’s next. Or spiraling about what I forgot. Or who I accidentally left on read.

[Laughs again. But the air has shifted.]

INTERVIEWER Does it feel lonely?

[Kate pauses. It’s fast. But the silence sticks for a beat longer than it should.]

KATE Sometimes. Yeah.

INTERVIEWER You’ve said in the past that you don’t believe in ‘having it all.’ Do you still feel that way?

KATE More than ever.

INTERVIEWER You’ve got the music. The film. The fans. The empire. But there’s a lot you’ve keep private. Was that always intentional?

KATE Always. Some things you want to hold sacred. Or safe. But sometimes, without meaning to, you put so much behind glass that you look up one day… and you’re alone in a room full of trophies.

///

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

///

[Return with B-roll of Kate and the interviewer walking the property. Laughing. Casual. Then cut back to the chairs.]

INTERVIEWER So. From the outside, your life looks perfect. Awards. Accolades. An impossibly booked calendar. And yet…you said something earlier. You don’t think you have it all. What’s missing?

[Kate doesn’t answer right away. Clearly weighing how much she wants to way.]

KATE Not a what. A who.

The interviewer looks intrigued.

INTERVIEWER Someone you’ve already met or is it just this idea we all have of the perfect person that will eventually come along?

KATE I’ve definitely met them.

INTERVIEWER But you’re no longer together?

KATE No.

[Clips: All of Kate’s VERY public relationships. Teen flings. Rumored situationships over the years. Eli. America. Then, Yelena. That Vogue wedding spread. The wedding headlines. Cut.]

KATE People think if your Instagram looks fine, you must be. But this year… I’ve started being honest with myself. That I’m not. Not entirely.

INTERVIEWER What do you mean?

KATE I’m grateful. I feel very lucky that I get to live this life. Do these things. But I also wake up every day with this…ghost. A shadow of something I broke. Something I miss. Almost suffocatingly so.

INTERVIEWER Can I ask about that?

KATE (laughs) You’re going to either way.

INTERVIEWER There was a marriage. A relationship that took everyone by surprise. Your first public relationship with a woman. And not just any woman…your bodyguard. Your Vogue Bride profile called it 'The wedding of the decade'.

KATE Uhum.

INTERVIEWER And about a year later…a very sudden, quiet divorce. You've never spoken about it. Why not?

KATE (quietly) I’ve never… (laughs) The reason you’re a great interviewer is that you make people feel comfortable. I almost forgot there were nine cameras pointed at us for a second.

[Kate looks off, directly into one of them. Smiles.]

INTERVIEWER And if there weren’t cameras…what would you say about this divorce?

Kate pauses, thoughtfully. Almost talks a few times. Stops herself. Then…

KATE I’ve never known how to say what needed saying without sounding like I was trying to spin it. To win something. And there is no winning. Not in what I did.

INTERVIEWER You think you were the reason it ended?

KATE I don’t think. I know. I broke it. The blame falls squarely on me. (laughs awkwardly) No one ever plans to talk about the things you’re ashamed of. But I guess you also just eventually get tired of pretending they didn’t happen.

INTERVIEWER Can I ask what happened?

[Music cuts out. Silence. Palpable. The moment where millions of people start leaning closer to their screens.]

KATE I hurt someone I loved. And I’ve spent the last nine years trying to become a person who wouldn’t do that again.

INTERVIEWER That’s not an answer to the question, Kate.

KATE Yeah, it isn’t.

[Kate takes another breath, hands are clasped tightly in her lap.]

KATE I cheated. I lied. Not just to her. To myself. I told myself it didn’t mean anything. That I didn’t know it was happening until it had. But I made choices. And those choices destroyed the one thing in my life that ever felt solid.

INTERVIEWER It’s been almost a decade.

KATE Nine years, yeah.

INTERVIEWER Why now?

KATE Because I’m tired of pretending I’m over it. I want to be someone who tells the truth. Even when it’s ugly.

INTERVIEWER Do you still love her?

[A sharp inhale. Kate’s eyes lift. She doesn’t flinch. She knew this was coming so she just…answers.]

KATE Of course.

INTERVIEWER Are you still IN LOVE with her?

[A single, deep breath.]

KATE Yeah…I’ll always love her. I don’t know if she’ll ever forgive me. I wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t. But I loved her then. I love her now. And not a single day has gone by that I haven’t wished I could take it back.

[Silence. The kind that holds.]

INTERVIEWER You’ve never said that out loud.

KATE No…Well. I just said it.

INTERVIEWER Does she know?

KATE I have a feeling she will now.

[The camera holds.] [Fades out.] [Title card appears.]