Hollywood actress Jodie Foster candidly revealed why she was able to avoid abuse in Hollywood as a child, marking the 50th anniversary of the film Taxi Driver.
On the 15th (local time), according to People and others, Jodie Foster recently told NPR in an interview, "I have long asked myself why I did not go through the horrific experiences that so many others endured," she began. She made a strong impression by playing a child prostitution victim at age 12 in Taxi Driver, becoming her first Academy Award nominee for supporting actress.
Foster said, "Of course there were microaggressions. Any woman in the workplace experiences them," but added, "I wondered why it didn't lead to worse situations for me." The conclusion she reached was "power."
She said, "By about age 12 I already had a certain level of power," and "after my first Oscar nomination I became someone in a completely different category. I was 'too dangerous to touch.'" She added, "I could have ruined someone's career and I was in a position to report problems externally. So I was not targeted."
She also explained that her temperament played a role. Foster said, "I am someone who approaches the world with reason rather than emotion," and "I am the type who is very difficult to manipulate emotionally." She emphasized, "Predators target those who have no power, who are young, and who are vulnerable. That is the essence of predatory behavior."
In Taxi Driver, actor Robert De Niro played a taxi driver leading an unstable life after serving in the Vietnam War, and Jodie Foster played Iris, the girl he tries to "save." Foster later won the Academy Award for best actress twice for The Accused and The Silence of the Lambs, establishing herself as a top Hollywood actor.
She also mentioned the reasons she has strictly protected her private life. Foster said, "I did not want to participate in celebrity culture," and added, "I wanted to make films I love and give everything on screen, but protect my life itself."
Now, 50 years later, Foster's self-defined reason for "having been able to survive" after rising to the center of Hollywood at a young age once again raises questions about the industry's power structure and points for reflection that remain ongoing.
Meanwhile, Foster created a stir when she came out as gay while accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award, a lifetime achievement award, on stage at the 70th Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles in January 2013.
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