Jodie Foster says it’s ‘important for people to see other ways of being a woman’

Harper’s Bazaar Women of the Year Awards

Jodie Foster has said it is “really important” for people to see “other ways of being a woman.”

The 61-year-old American actress and filmmaker discussed how she had recently reached out to non-binary actor Bella Ramsey, 20, as she wanted them to introduce her at the Elle Women In Hollywood celebration.

Speaking to The Guardian, Foster said: “I reached out to Bella, because we’d never met, and said: ‘I want you to introduce me at this thing’, which is a wonderful event about actors and people in the movies, but is also very much a fashion thing.

There are other ways of being a woman, and it’s really important for people to see that

Jodie Foster

“Which means it’s determining who represents us. (The organisers) are very proud of themselves because they’ve got every ethnicity, and I’m like, yeah, but all the attendees are still wearing heels and eyelashes.

“There are other ways of being a woman, and it’s really important for people to see that.

“And Bella, who gave the best speech, was wearing the most perfect suit, beautifully tailored, and a middle parting and no makeup.”

Foster added: “I do a lot of reaching out to young actresses. I’m compelled. Because it was hard growing up.”

The actress said it was “bleak” for her when she was younger and added that she would not have been able to wear a suit when she was a young actor.

Asked if she would have been able to sport that kind of outfit, she said: “No. Because we weren’t free. Because we didn’t have freedom.

“And hopefully that’s what the vector of authenticity that’s happening offers – the possibility of real freedom.

“We had other things that were good. And I would say: I did the best I could for my generation.

“I was very busy understanding where I fitted in and where I wanted to be in terms of feminism.

“But my lens wasn’t wide enough. I lived in an incredibly segregated world.”

While Foster likes to get in touch with  young actors, she admitted that Gen Z can be “really annoying” to work with.

“They’re really annoying, especially in the workplace. They’re like: ‘Nah, I’m not feeling it today, I’m gonna come in at 10.30am,” she said.

“Or, like, in emails, I’ll tell them this is all grammatically incorrect, did you not check your spelling? And they’re like: ‘Why would I do that, isn’t that kind of limiting?’”

Foster, who has been married to photographer Alexandra Hedison since 2014, has two sons from her marriage to Cydney Bernard and says they are “super feminist”.

“They like to watch movies and sit at home, and they’re really into their female friends,” she said.

The actress, who has starred in films including Taxi Driver (1976) and The Silence Of The Lambs (1991) has won two Oscars and received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in 2016.

Register now for one of the Evening Standard’s newsletters. From a daily news briefing to Homes & Property insights, plus lifestyle, going out, offers and more. For the best stories in your inbox, click here.