> At a Glance
> – Jodie Foster says viewers “were confused” by her 2013 Golden Globes speech
> – She wrote the address to be “literary” and opaque, not a coming-out moment
> – Why it matters: The actress reveals how she guarded her privacy while accepting a lifetime-achievement honor
Jodie Foster is revisiting the night she accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award and set the internet buzzing. In a Jan. 7 Variety interview, the two-time Oscar winner insists the speech was designed to puzzle, not proclaim.
The Speech That Launched 1,000 Takes
When Foster stepped to the 2013 Globes podium, she saluted Cydney Bernard-her “heroic co-parent” and “ex-partner in love”-and many viewers read the moment as a coming-out. Foster now laughs off that reaction: “They were confused!”
She says she crafted the address to resist easy sound-bites.
> “It was really important that it be so literary because I knew that it would be chopped up, misinterpreted,” Foster told Variety.
Her goal: a time-capsule for sons Charlie and Kit-“20 years from now, my kids will go back” and hear what mom was thinking at 50.
Privacy After a Lifetime in Spotlight
Foster, a child-star veteran, used the platform to plead for personal space.
> “If you’d had to fight for a life that felt real and honest and normal against all odds, then maybe then you, too, might value privacy above all else. Privacy.”
The actress also told the ballroom she was stepping away from big-budget films, pivoting to directing for a decade before roaring back with 2023’s Nyad and True Detective: Night Country-projects that brought fresh Oscar and Emmy nominations.
Life Now With Alexandra Hedison
Foster wed photographer-filmmaker Alexandra Hedison in April 2014. Speaking to News Of Los Angeles last October, she rejected the “power couple” label.
> “We do a lot of chatting, but it’s usually about laughing about jokes or football or movies,” she said, adding the best advice she gives Hedison is simply, “Wow, keep going.”
At the 2025 Golden Globes Foster won for True Detective and dedicated the trophy to “the love of my life, Alex.”
Up Next
Her new film A Private Life-premiering Jan. 16 after a 2025 Cannes debut-has her feeling she’s “doing the best work of my life,” with minimal effort: “I just do what I think, and then I drink a coffee.”
Key Takeaways
- Foster never intended the 2013 speech as a public coming-out
- She chose ambiguity to protect her private life and children
- After a 10-year directing detour, she’s back collecting major awards
- Foster calls her current creative streak the pinnacle of her career
