Jodie Foster Says She Was ‘Saved’ from Abuse as Child Actor Because She ‘Had a Certain Amount of Power’ as a Teen Star

Jodie Foster is reflecting on having a unique experience with fame.

The actress, 63, recently spoke to NPR for the 50th anniversary of Taxi Driver. Looking back at the film, which came out when Foster was just 13, she reflects on being a young actor in Hollywood.

Many in her field have shared traumatic experiences regarding various forms of abuse in the years since, a fact which Foster said has led her to “examine” how she was spared from such experiences.

“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?” she began.

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Foster said her thoughts on the issue have led her to believe that having “a certain amount of power” at a young age led her to a different path.

“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,” she said.

Foster added that her personality might have also led her to be treated differently, noting, “I am a head-first person and I approach the world in a head-first way.”

“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,” she explained.

“That’s precisely what predatory behavior is about: using power in order to diminish people, in order to dominate them.”

Elsewhere in the conversation, Foster, who began acting at age 5, said the industry has equipped her with a degree of resilience she’s carried throughout her life.

“I think there’s a part of me that has been made resilient by what I’ve done for a living and has been able to control my emotions in order to do that in a role,” she said.

“When you’re older, those survival skills get in the way, and you have to learn how to ditch them [when] they’re not serving you anymore.”