Jodie Foster says her 2013 Golden Globes speech was misunderstood

Jodie Foster says her 2013 Golden Globes speech was meant to protect her privacy, despite knowing it would be misread

Jodie Foster has reflected on her widely debated 2013 Golden Globes speech, acknowledging that she knew it would be misinterpreted but felt compelled to deliver it on her own terms.

Speaking in a recent interview tied to Variety’s latest cover story, the Oscar-winning actor said the speech was intentionally layered and literary, designed to endure beyond the immediate headlines it generated at the time.

When Foster accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement, public attention quickly shifted away from the awards ceremony itself to speculation that the actor had publicly come out. Foster now says that interpretation missed the point. According to her, the speech was a deliberate meditation on privacy, dignity, and the pressures of fame, rather than a declaration about her personal life.

Foster explained that she structured the speech knowing it would be edited, quoted, and misunderstood in real time. Her goal, she said, was to leave behind a record her children could revisit years later, offering a fuller understanding of her intentions. Although she has since spoken openly about her personal life and appeared publicly with her wife, Alexandra Hedison, Foster maintains that the speech was not about labels but about boundaries.

Jodie Foster talked about being a lesbian, publicly, for the 1st time in 2013, accepting a Golden Globe award.
For those who were paying attention (I was) this was not her ‘coming out’.
She never made a secret of her sexuality, she just chose not to discuss it.#LGBTplusHM pic.twitter.com/rARUPHwbET

— Matthew Hodson (@Matthew_Hodson) February 17, 2024

The actor also revisited her decision to step back from major film roles in the years that followed. After decades in the spotlight, Foster said she questioned her place in an industry increasingly shaped by celebrity branding and constant exposure. Between 2013 and her recent return to high-profile projects such as Nyad and True Detective: Night Country, she appeared in only a handful of smaller films.

More than a decade later, Foster believes her concerns about privacy and media intrusion have only intensified. Reflecting on the rise of reality television and social media-driven fame, she emphasized that maintaining dignity was, and remains, a personal and professional necessity.