Last night’s Golden Globes was a great night of pretty dresses, good jokes, lots of drinks, and a few odd moments. I have to lump Jodie Foster’s speech under the odd category.
The actress (who I think is absolutely incredible at her craft) received the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award. She walked on stage looking stunning – the blue dress was beautiful and matched her eye color perfectly. She looked gorgeous and young, but reminded the crowd she was 50.
The speech itself was rather scattered to me. She seemed to ramble about her age and the privacy she craved due to being in the industry for 47 years. Then, she said she had the “sudden urge to say something that I’ve never really been able to air in public.” Holy mackerel, I thought, she’s going to admit she is gay.
The thing about Foster admitted she was gay wasn’t that it seemed to be the worst kept secret in Hollywood, but that she had always been so classy in protecting her privacy. Yes, she had two children, no, no one knew who the father was, and yes, she was frequently pictured with Cydney Bernard, believed to be her partner for many years. But, she always stirred clear of speaking about her personal life and I respected her for that.
Turns out her big “urge” was to say…she was single. Then, she asked for a wolf whistle. She rambled about reality shows and how being in the limelight so long was reality enough, but she wasn’t “Honey Boo Boo Child.”
She kind of gave a shout of to some of her people “table over there, 222, way out in Idaho, Paris, Stockholm” – whatever that meant and mentioned Mel Gibson and how he has saved her. Given all the controversy the mighty fallen Aussie actor has endured over the past years, Foster and Gibson seem like an odd couple. And, every time the camera went to him, he had this same dumbstruck, blank look on his face.
The next thing she said was actually the “big moment” – Foster said, “There is no way I could ever stand here without acknowledging one of the deepest loves of my life, my heroic co-parent, my ex-partner in love but righteous soul sister in life, my confessor, ski buddy, consigliere, most beloved BFF of 20 years, Cydney Bernard. Thank you, Cyd. I am so proud of our modern family. Our amazing sons, Charlie and Kit, who are my reason to breathe and to evolve, my blood and soul. And boys, in case you didn’t know it, this song, all of this, this song is for you.”
So, that’s like a public confession she’s gay, no? Well, add to it the fact that she said “I already did my coming out about a thousand years ago back in the Stone Age,” and I’d say yes, she confessed.
She continued, talking about her mom, still babbling, but it was a nice thought if you knew her mother was suffering from dementia (I didn’t).
Foster closed by saying she may never be on stage again, but she would continue to tell stories, she just might be holding a different talking stick. She said her story might not open on 3,000 screens, it might be “so quiet and delicate that only dogs can hear it whistle.” What?
All in all, she came off a little – well, manic. My thoughts were too much alcohol or too much hanging out with Mel Gibson. I guess I am glad she finally came out, scattered though it seemed, but honestly, she had been private for so long, much like Anderson Cooper, I don’t think anyone cared anymore. Maybe it was just me, but she received a lifetime achievement award – I expected her to talk more about her films and less about her personal life – a philosophy she seemed to have followed all 47 of her years in acting.
In case you missed the Golden Globes, you can read Foster’s entire speech at ABC News.