Straight women, were/are you aware that Jodie Foster is gay?

[MNUse]

Been mildly curious about this for a while. I’m a gay woman and my loving well-meaning mother will occasionally make slightly clumsy attempts to bring up gay films or famous gay women that she assumes I must be interested in because they are also gay (e.g. Ellen Page as was). But she has never mentioned Jodie Foster, and although I haven’t tested it I get the impression she isn’t aware, maybe partly because although JF is now ten years married to a woman she has never quite made the big ‘I am gay’ speech.

AIBU to think a lot of straight women still haven’t really noticed that Jodie Foster is gay? And, if I’m wrong, when did you become aware?

YABU - I know, I’ve known for ages, yawn

YANBU - I didn’t know, or didn’t know until very recently, but anyway, yawn

OBVIOUSLY what matters is her acting, but I am mildly curious about what causes someone’s gayness to register/not register with the wider public

What makes it weird is your snippiness tbf. Anyway - I shall leave it for others to 'enjoy'.

I think Jodie Foster is one of the USA's most famous lesbians, like Martina Navratilova or Ellen de Generes.

Yes I knew. I can't remember how I found out now, as it was some time ago.

I bloody love her and am very excited to see she's in the next True Detective!!

So, we have to pretend to be affected by things we are not affected by to avoid being selfish in your eyes? I prefer to be honest. What about Ms Foster and her choice to remain low-key about the private matter of her sexuality? Is that "selfish" too?

My favourite recent film of hers was Inside Man with Clive Owen and Christopher Plummer. She was so controlled and it was such a great character. I love that film. I don't work in an office anymore but for a time I modelled my aesthetic on her look in that film.

I believe the guy who shot Reagan was also stalking her in the early 80`s, that would put you off "courting publicity" I would think? Playing a teenage prostitute in Taxi Driver at age 12 would give you publicity anyway whether you wanted it or not.

I can't said that I followed her career/activities at all, though I'm sure she's a great actress. I googled and of course I realise now she was in Silence of the Lambs, which was a good film. I've not seen anything else she's in and wouldn't know anything about her private life, except she came out.
I used to identify as bi, so her coming out was of interest to me at the time.

I get her mixed up with Julianne Moore a lot of the time.

On the one hand, I didn’t know until your post. On the other hand why should I care, and by the way, I don’t.

I didn't know she was gay but I was surprised she studied African American literature at uni.

I thought it was common knowledge - also so unremarkable, does anyone even care? She is a great actress and who she choses as her partner is not really something that should matter to anyone 🤷‍♀️

Interesting.

She is very clever. She speaks French too

I know and I do think it matters. Didn't Ellen lose her sitcom after coming out? Oh, here we go: 'According to ABC's president at the time, viewership ended up declining because the show "became a program about a lead character who was gay every single week."' Coming out on the show paved the way for more gay TV characters, but Ellen paid a price. And more recently, Kristen Stewart said she'd been told she could get a Marvel movie or equivalent if only she weren't holding her girlfriend's hand in public...

I can only imagine that for young (and older) lesbians, seeing gay women out and succeeding in public life would be huge. I still think there are likely lots of celebrities pressured into hiding same sex relationships or just being quiet about them and hoping it doesn't affect their careers, and it would be wonderful if nobody (women or men) had to do that.

Yes this is what I was trying to say. Thanks @MNUse

If your job is in the public eye, people gossiping and speculating about your life is just a cross you have to bear.

Yes I knew.

Brilliant actress.

I don't really remember now knowing, but yes known for years.

It used to matter a great deal in the 80s and 90s, hence the reason a lot of big stars pretended not to be gay, or just didn`t talk about it.

Ms Foster is not selfish to keep her life private but she would be very unselfish if she was public about her sexuality. She doesn't owe that to anybody but many minorities have benefitted from the courage of people who have gone before them, risking harm by speaking out about injustice.

The audience is key, alienate a chunk of them and the movie doesn`t make money, that is all the studio cares about, missing out on a Marvel movie should be something to celebrate for anyone who thinks of themselves as even slightly serious as an actor.

I had no idea, and couldn't care less. I think she's a good actor and have enjoyed a lot of her films. Her sexuality is nothing to me.

But I'm interested when you say "a lot of straight women still haven’t really noticed that Jodie Foster is gay". Not being goady, and genuinely interested to know - how WOULD I notice that she's gay? What, to a heterosexual woman, would be an indicator?

I don't really pay much attention to celebrity, so wouldn't know if she had been seen out with a partner, male or female, or what her circumstances are. Do you mean that if I'd read/seen interviews with her, I might have picked up that there is no male presence and assumed she is gay?

I do t even know who Jodie Foster is, let alone her sexuality…

I think because she has always been viewed as an actor of incredible talent she never had to play the cute sexy girly roles. Since she has never had to trade on sexiness, more than any other female I can think of in her industry, sexiness has never really been a major part of her allure, and therefore her sexuality is sort of by the by, iyswim. I remember her 2013 speech, but think it was well known before then and always a kind of non issue because there are so many things to discuss about her latest performance.

Movie business is just about bums on seats though, if the majority of the audience is straight then the studio assumes they will relate better to "straight" characters played by "straight" actors, Hollywood has always tried to hide the real lifestyle of stars for whatever reason, Sinatra for example was massive in the 40s when portrayed as a wholesome family guy, then the stories about multiple relationships came out and the career took a dive, because a lot of the audience didnt relate to that lifestyle.

I didn't 'know' she was gay as a fact (dont keep up with celeb stuff) but always, since forever, just assumed she was that I didn't ever question her sexuality. She's just always been gay to me.

Same as Kristen Stewart. I just assumed she was gay from the beginning, long long before she started dating women. I was shocked when she was dating men as I thought she was gay.