Jodie Foster believes she was 'saved' from sexual abuse in Hollywood after making it into the big time as a child actor for her Oscar-nominee performance in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver.
The actor was praised for her depiction of the victim of child sexual abuse in the 1976 classic film, which lead to her acting being recognised.
Since that role, Foster has gone on to have an impressive career and has a stellar resume to match.
Taxi Driver made Foster arguably the biggest child actor out there, with the 63-year-old claiming that her success 'saved' her from sexual abuse as she had so much power in Hollywood from a very young age.
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Speaking to NPR, Foster said: "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? And what I came to believe … is that I had a certain amount of power by the time I was, like, 12."
She continued: "So 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."
Foster went on to say that it could also be because of her 'personality' and her 'head-first way' that kept her protected.
"It also might be just my personality, that I am a head-first person and I approach the world in a head-first way," she continued. "It’s very difficult to emotionally manipulate me because I don’t operate with my emotions on the surface.
"Predators use whatever they can in order to manipulate and get people to do what they want them to do. And that’s much easier when the person is younger, when the person is weaker, when a person has no power. That’s precisely what predatory behavior is about: using power in order to diminish people, in order to dominate them."
Nearly 50 years on, Foster remains grateful for her experience with Taxi Driver.
"What luck to have been part of that, our golden age of cinema in the '70s, some of the greatest movies that America ever made, the greatest filmmakers, auteur films," she added to NPR.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues or want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, the Childhelp USA National Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453) operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and receives calls from throughout the United States, Canada, US Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico.
Topics: Sexual Abuse, Hollywood, Celebrity, Film and TV
Callum Jones