Jodie Foster raised alarm bells during a rare outing in New York City on Tuesday, leaning on a cane as she navigated the bustling streets. The 63-year-old Oscar winner wore an intense expression as she carried grocery bags in one hand and leaned on a cane with the other.
Outing Details
In a denim shirt and olive trousers, the Silence of the Lambs star sported a messenger bag across her chest, giving the impression of someone on a long trek rather than a quick Manhattan errand. Her wife, Alexandra Hedison, whom she has been married to for 12 years, proved a helpful sidekick, stepping in to carry some of the shopping as the couple exited a flower shop. The Daily Mail has reached out to Foster’s representatives for comment on her health and the outing.
Previous Health Scares
It is not the first time Foster's public appearances have raised the alarm. At the 2018 Oscars, she hobbled across the stage with Jennifer Lawrence in tow, leaning heavily on crutches. Although Foster cracked a joke on stage, claiming Meryl Streep had caused the mishap, her publicist later revealed the star had actually injured herself in a skiing accident. Reassuringly, she made a full recovery.
Recent Events
Foster’s cane-supported jaunt through Manhattan comes not long after she attended the 2025 Golden Globes with her 24-year-old son Kit. The Oscar-winning actress was on hand to collect the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Series or TV Film for her chilling turn in True Detective: Night Country. She also has another son, Charlie, 26, from her 15-year relationship with film producer Cydney Bernard. The couple split in 2008, and Foster eventually embarked on a new chapter with her wife.
Raising Her Sons
Both boys were raised in Los Angeles, with Foster previously stressing her determination to provide them with a stable childhood, after her own was disrupted by the early demands of stardom. 'I have a psychological need to create a really safe, normal life for them, because if there was anything I missed in my childhood, that was it,' she told People in 2007. 'I really craved having a routine, stable life and that’s what I’ve given to my kids.'
Reflections on Hollywood
Earlier this year, Foster opened up about what protected her from abuse in her younger Hollywood years. She made the revelations while celebrating the 50th anniversary of Taxi Driver - the gritty film that earned her first Oscar nomination at just 12, in which she portrayed a child prostitute. In an NPR interview, she admitted that many young actors face mistreatment, and she often wondered why she had been spared. 'I've really had to examine that, like, how did I get saved? There were microaggressions, of course. Anybody who's in the workplace has had misogynist microaggressions. That's just a part of being a woman, right? But what kept me from having those bad experiences, those terrible experiences?'
Power and Resilience
Her conclusion? By the time she was a preteen, she had already gained a rare measure of power in Hollywood. 'And what I came to believe… is that I had a certain amount of power by the time I was, like, 12,' Foster said. '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. I could've ruined people's careers or I could've called "Uncle," so I wasn't on the block.' She also credited her early career and ironclad determination with building lifelong resilience. 'I think there's a part of me that has been made resilient by what I've done for a living and has been able to control my emotions in order to do that in a role,' she explained. 'When you're older, those survival skills get in the way, and you have to learn how to ditch them [when] they're not serving you anymore.'
Guarding Privacy
Foster also revealed in the NPR interview why she guards her personal life. 'I did not want to participate in celebrity culture,' she told NPR. 'I wanted to make movies that I loved. I wanted to give everything of myself on-screen, and I wanted to survive intact by having a life and not handing that life over to the media and to people that wished me ill.'
Current Projects
Even with her recent cane-supported outing, Foster has shown no signs of slowing down. In her most recent screen credit, A Private Life, she played Lilian Steiner, a sharp-witted psychiatrist, and won praise for delivering much of the dialogue in French.
