Jodie Foster comes out, gritting her teeth

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 14:41:00 +0000

She never said "gay." Or "lesbian." In fact, as she accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award for her outstanding Hollywood career at the Golden Globes Sunday night, Jodie Foster specifically said, "I'm not going to do a big coming out speech tonight." And this, for a woman who has spent her adult life fiercely refusing to comment on her personal life, was what coming out looked like. Instead, she explained, "I already did my coming out speech about a thousand years ago, back in the Stone Age."

It was a moment many fans assumed would never arrive at all, and one of the most unexpected things to ever happen at the Globes. It was awkward and at times angry and brave and strange. Because Foster, ever one to do it her way, didn't choose to make her declaration via an in-depth sit-down with Oprah, or an open letter to Andrew Sullivan. Instead, she mixed it into a rambly speech that seemed equal parts defiant and terrified, one in which she channeled her inner Sally O'Malley by announcing, with a swagger that threatened to turn her award acceptance speech into an impromptu keynote for the Red Hat Society, "I'm FIFTY." She did it on a night in which she sat flanked by her two sons on one side and grim-faced, acknowledged domestic abuser Mel Gibson on the other. She did it in a speech in which she confidently stated her age but confessed her nerves before saying, "I'm just gonna put it out there, right? Loud and proud, right? So I'm gonna need your support on this. I am … single. Yes I am, I am single. No, I'm kidding. But I mean, I'm not really kidding, but I'm kind of kidding."

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Jodie Foster comes out, gritting her teeth