Jodie Foster Comes Out At The Globes—Now That's Entertainment!

Jodie Foster finally came out of the closet and got the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award at the Golden Globes. Right in the middle of her speech, she was sentimental and began rambling about wanting to tell us something she never dared to say before. Then she announced, rather dubiously, that her days on "this stage" were over. She also thanked her former partner, Cydney Bernard, for her support, indicating that she was gay, thus shocking the entire entertainment world. Or did she?

Listening to the speech, it sounded as if it was just chance that made her come out on this night of glory, that she hadn't tried to keep it a secret at all. But do we really believe that? She hasn't denied or confirmed anything in public before—and why should she? Why is this important at all? She's a great actress and director, isn't she?

But fact remains that beautiful female actresses as well as equally handsome male ones—and pop singers for that matter—seldom get extra kudos from their audience for admitting that they're gay. Isn't that the real reason we haven't had such a public "confession" before?

So, is her career over now? Look what happened to Ricky Martin, who allegedly tweeted his support to Foster after the speech. He was smoked after he came out, wasn't he? He wasn't quite every girl's dream after that. Well, Foster may not get to play the woman of every guy's dreams anymore, but what about the one in every girl's dreams? She must have realized by now that her days as the young alluring female on the silver screen inevitably are coming to an end. Isn't it as simple as that?

Will she meet the same fate as Martin, not being able to draw the proper attention from the opposite sex any longer? Is that what she's risking? Is that what happened here? Or was it just her way of ending a long and tiresome charade of keeping up appearances in public? You know what? I really don't care.

Later in the evening, Foster firmly denied that she was retiring from the business, which was what everyone feared after the speech. And two announcements on this level on the same night might be one too much.

What is the lifetime achievement award really for? What does it take to get it? If you start early, could you get it at, say 25? Foster was a child actor, beginning in the 70s, barely 13 years old when she appeared in Taxi Driver with Robert DeNiro. It doesn't get any better than that.

Why come out now? Lifetime achievement awards always seem reserved for artists forgotten or overlooked on previous award ceremonies, when they have reached a certain age and have little chance of winning best actor with yet another great performance. Or they will be given to someone who, by sheer bad luck have been overshadowed by another even greater performance the same year.

Examples of previous winners of this particular prestigious award are DeNiro, Jack Nicholson, Sean Connery, Robert Redford and Al Pacino. The average age of the winners is above 60 years old. And they're mostly men. Foster is in fact, besides being one of the few female winners, at the age of only 50 one of the youngest winners of this award. Judy Garland holds the record at 39.

Foster has made great films during her career—Accused (1989) and Silence of the Lambs (1991) probably being among the most noteworthy. And she did get an Academy Award for her role in Accused. She's been around for a while, but at the age of 50, doesn't she have a few more years on her film calendar before we have to retire her as an actress? She may be the bee's knees behind the camera, but since she still looks smashing, maybe even better than before, she needn't really lose sleep over that.

Whatever her reasons you have to admire her for challenging the movie establishment and having the guts of giving that speech. Surely, she must have been very aware of the commotion she would stir up. The Cecile B DeMille Award honors an artist for "outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment." Hasn't Foster with her speech proven herself very worthy of this achievement?

To answer to the question: Is Jodie out? I'd have to say: No, she's not. She is probably more in than ever before. It's all about timing, and that she has always had.