Jodie Foster discusses being a child star and how it may have saved her from a #MeToo moment
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jodie Foster told the New York Times in 1981 she was pursuing studies at Yale University in hopes of acheiving a "normal life." However as a student, the actress was followed by stalker John Hinckley Jr. before he attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan as a means to impress her. She would later graduate from Yale with a B.A. in literature and has credited her studies for helping her to develop characters on-screen. (Reuters)
Jodie Foster believes that being a child star may have saved her from sexual harassment as an adult.
“The weird cauldron that made me – working from the time I was three years old, supporting my family by the time that I was seven, super-strong mom, over-confident personality, celebrity young enough that I learned to be stand-offish … I think there’s a whole bunch of reasons why I didn’t have the same path as someone who came to Hollywood at 22 with two cents in her pocket and just wanted more than anything else to be an actor,” Foster, 55, told PorterEdit in an interview released Friday. “It’s just a different life.”
Foster, who broke out in “Taxi Driver” when she was just 14 years old, claims that while she doesn’t see herself as a “spokesperson” for any movements, she reaches out to other actors and actresses privately to offer help and advice if she feels it’s needed.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“If there’s anything that I have to be a role model about, it is prioritizing my own self-worth and psychological health above all. And if not, I don’t know where I would be today,” she said. “I mean, there is a carpet of ex-child actors who did not make it.”
“At least my kids’ schools are supporting the right programs,” she added. “These kids are really grilled about consent from the second they do middle school. Not only is our culture evolving, but we are, too. I don’t think there is a woman I know who doesn’t look back on when they were 15, 16, 17 or 18, who doesn’t put their hand on their head and say: ‘Why did I do that? Why was I like that? Why wasn’t I confident? Why didn’t I say no?’ ”
While the “Hotel Artemis” star acknowledged that she was greatly moved by the #MeToo movement, she admitted that she’s concerned about the idea of vilifying men in its aftermath.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“This is a transitional period, and it’s just so painful,” she said. “You really have to have a plan for truth and reconciliation. We can’t put every man over 30 in jail. We have to love our brothers and fathers and come to an understanding about how we got here and who we are going to be together.”
This article originally appeared on Page Six.