In a candid new interview, acclaimed actress Jodie Foster has revealed why she believes she was spared from the predatory abuse that has plagued many young performers in Hollywood.
Power and Protection at a Young Age
The 63-year-old, two-time Oscar winner spoke to NPR as her groundbreaking film Taxi Driver marks its 50th anniversary in February. Foster was just 12 years old when she earned her first Academy Award nomination for her role as a child prostitute in the gritty 1976 film noir.
Reflecting on her early career, Foster admitted she has often wondered why her experience differed from the traumatic stories of abuse shared by many in the industry. "I've really had to examine that, like, how did I get saved?" she said. While acknowledging the pervasive misogynist microaggressions common in any workplace, she questioned what shielded her from more severe exploitation.
"Too Dangerous to Touch"
After considerable thought, Foster concluded that her early success granted her a unique form of protection. "I had a certain amount of power by the time I was, like, 12," she shared. "By the time I had my first Oscar nomination, I was part of a different category of people that had power and I was too dangerous to touch."
She explained that this status meant she could have potentially ruined careers or called for help, making her an unattractive target for predators who typically seek out the vulnerable and powerless. "I could've called 'Uncle', so I wasn't on the block," Foster stated.
A Head-First Personality and Lasting Resilience
Foster also pointed to her own temperament as a possible deterrent. Describing herself as a "head-first person" who approaches the world intellectually rather than emotionally, she suggested this made her difficult to manipulate.
"Predators use whatever they can in order to manipulate... And that's much easier when the person is younger, when the person is weaker, when a person has no power," she said. "That's precisely what predatory behaviour is about: using power in order to diminish people."
She credits her career, which began at age five on TV's Mayberry R.F.D., with forging a resilient character. However, she notes that the emotional control vital for acting later in life required unlearning some of those survival instincts.
Foster, married to photographer Alexandra Hedison since 2014, also discussed her famous privacy, stating she deliberately avoided celebrity culture to protect her personal life and her sons, Charlie and Kit. "I wanted to survive intact by having a life and not handing that life over to the media," she told NPR.
