Jodie Foster Comes Out, Surprising Only John Hinckley

In news you've known for years, Jodie Foster has announced that she's a lesbian.

 

jodie-foster-golden-globes-gayIn news you’ve known for years, Jodie Foster has announced that she’s a lesbian.

AP (“Foster reveals she’s gay, suggests she’s retiring“):

Jodie Foster came out without really coming out, and suggested she was retiring from acting without exactly saying so, in a long, breathless and rambling speech at Sunday night’s Golden Globe Awards.

Foster took the stage as this year’s winner of the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award, which had been announced previously. But her acceptance speech was anything but predictable as the veteran actress seized control of what is every year a noisy, boozy ballroom; the crowd of A-listers quickly quieted down as it became apparent that she had something serious and important to say.

The 50-year-old Oscar-winner for “The Silence of the Lambs” and “The Accused,” who’s been protective of her private life and reluctant to discuss her sexual orientation, was coy at first, suggesting she had a big announcement that would make her publicist nervous (the broadcast audio dropped out at this point, but for no apparent reason; nothing was said off-color). Then she stated: “I’m just going to put it out there, loud and proud … I am, uh, single,” pausing for dramatic effect before that last word. “I hope you’re not disappointed that there won’t be a big coming-out speech tonight. I already did my coming-out about a thousand years ago back in the Stone Age.”

Foster joked that celebrities are now expected to reveal they’re gay “with a press conference, a fragrance and a prime-time reality show. And you guys might be surprised, but I am not Honey Boo Boo Child. No. I’m sorry. That’s just not me. It never was and it never will be. But please don’t cry, because my reality show would be so boring.”

She added defiantly: “If you had been a public figure from the time that you were a toddler, if you’d had to fight for a life that felt real and honest and normal against all odds, then maybe you, too, might value privacy above all else.”

Foster thanked Cydney Bernard, a production manager whom she identified as “my heroic co-parent, my ex-partner in love but righteous soul sister in life,” her former partner of 20 years — a relationship she never hid and from which she has two sons.

So, now you know. Not that you didn’t already.

FILED UNDER: Gender Issues, Popular Culture, ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. michael reynolds says:

    Thank God this has been cleared up. I’ve scarcely been able to concentrate on life. I think now as a nation we can finally move forward.

  2. Dave Schuler says:

    Bugsy Malone has now been ruined for me.

  3. stonetools says:

    Say it ain’t so, Jodie! Don’t tell me you’re…you’re… going to be retiring from acting! Wait a second, there was something else that was important? ”

    Wish Jodie all the best.

  4. mattb says:

    DAMMIT!

    Well at least I still have Martina Navratilova to lust after.

  5. C. Clavin says:

    Next thing you know Lance Armstrong will admit to cheating.

  6. Anderson says:

    “Hinckley,” with a “c.”

  7. James Joyner says:

    @Anderson: Ah, yes. Fixed.

  8. Anderson says:

    That and 9/11 are the only such events I’ve watched live as they unfolded on TV, having played sick to come home early from school. I was in 6th grade, and even I knew Alexander Haig wasn’t supposed to be in charge.

  9. Franklin says:

    Good title. Poor Hinckley – all that effort for naught.

  10. Also in the news: George Michael is gay.

  11. KariQ says:

    Oh my God! Jodie Foster is 50?

  12. jen justis says:

    I must b an ordinary person. I had no idea. I just thgt she was private like many of the best. Now I REALLY wonder about John Travolta and Richard gere. I love them both, but y pretend if u r? I am 3 yrs younger and it makes NO difference , but y now? At 50, we should only care what we think of ourselves. I do however understand wanting to “set things right?”