When Sandra Bullock stepped on stage at Sony Picture’s Studios to accept the Troops Choice Award for Entertainer of the year, she shocked everyone–audience and staff members. According to the People Magazine website, the award’s show organizers and participants were told that Bullock would not be attending and that a representative would be accepting the award on her behalf.

Saturday night’s Guys Choice Awards–aired on Spike TV–was Bullock’s first public appearance since her split from philandering hubby Jesse James and the subsequent adoption of her son. But Bullock showed no signs of being worse for the klieg light glare.

Rather, a smiling Bullock–dressed in a tight black leather mini skirt–graciously took the award from presenter Robert Downey, Jr. as the audience gave her a rousing standing ovation. When the applause finally subsided, she jokingly accepted her award while wondering aloud if she had won this honor because of her work or because of her exploding personal life. Her comment brought hoots of laughter from the audience.

Bullock, 45, has filled for divorce from James and has announced that she plans to raise her adopted child as a single parent. Any further terms of the divorce have not yet been released.