There was very little Hollywood’s golden couple, known by their shared moniker of “Brangelina”, could do to deflect incessant media attention after they announced their breakup. From Madam Tussauds physically ripping their wax figure replicas of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt apart to the Dalai Lama weighing in on the furore, everybody wanted a piece of the pie.

For this reason, Pitt and Jolie have both tended to steer clear of the limelight since the news Jolie was filing for a divorce emerged last September. As such, Pitt's appearance at the Golden Globes last night left many in the audience surprised.

The 53-year-old took to the stage to introduce a clip from Moonlight, a film which he helped produce and which went on to win the Best Motion Picture in the Drama category.

“It’s born of the courage of a group of actors willing to strip to their souls and express their humanism inside mistake and misstep and misdeed,” he said of the film, during his first awards season appearance since his split from wife and fellow actor Jolie.

Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Show all 32 1 /32 Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actress Emma Stone Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actress Natalie Portman Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Sophie Turner Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Evan Rachel Wood EPA Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Zoe Saldana EPA Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actress Octavia Spencer Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actress Sarah Jessica Parker Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actress Priyanka Chopra Reuters Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actress Naomie Harris Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Drew Barrymore EPA Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Sofia Vergara Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Chrissy Teigen and John Legend Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actress Kerry Washington Reuters Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Emily Ratajkowski EPA Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actress Viola Davis Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actress Blake Lively Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Meryl Streep EPA Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Musician/Actress Janelle Monae Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actress Lily Collins Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Millie Bobby Brown Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actor Ryan Gosling Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actress Jessica Biel and singer Justin Timberlake Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actor Donald Glover Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Musician Pharrell Williams and Mimi Valdes Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actor Tom Hiddleston Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actor Mahershala Ali and wife, Amatus Sami-Karim Reuters Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actor Andrew Garfield Reuters Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Jonah Hill Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actor Casey Affleck Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actor Hugh Laurie Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Musician Questlove Getty Golden Globes fashion 2017 gallery Actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson Getty

“It is Barry Jenkins profound belief that we all stand at the threshold of change and forgiveness where we only grant acceptance and love to ourselves”.

The speech prompted a loud round of applause from Hollywood stars in the audience.

“Apparently Brad Pitt got custody of the Hollywood friends in his divorce from Maleficent,” journalist Tony Bravo noted on Twitter, alluding to a role played by Jolie.

Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt in September, citing irreconcilable differences, and requested physical custody of their children Maddox, 15, Pax, 12, Zahara, 11, Shiloh, 10 and eight-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne.

Pitt and Jolie have a voluntary temporary custody agreement in place that allows Pitt supervised visitation with the children. Since October, he has had weekly supervised visits with the children, according to a court filing by Jolie.