LONDON:

It’s standard practice for Hollywood stars to thank friends and family when accepting awards. But when Jodie Foster paid tribute to “my beautiful Cydney” during a speech at the Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment breakfast recently, it caused a ripple of excitement.

So now we know. Jodie Foster’s partner of at least 15 years is a woman. Just like Jodie. That’s right, Jodie Foster is a lesbian.

It’s a secret as open as the Grand Canyon that Foster has been stepping out with film producer Cydney Bernard for years, and that they are raising Foster’s two children together. The surprise is not that Jodie is gay, but that it has taken her so long to say so.

Famously protective of her privacy, Foster has long resisted calls from gay rights advocates to become an out-and-proud role model. Lesbians across the land have long been divided by the Jodie question. Her willingness to take on gutsy, serious, even feminist roles is admired, while her coyness about her sexuality has been met with disappointment.

There’s a widely held view that being gay is bad for a celebrity career: Ellen DeGeneres — who had a TV series cancelled shortly after both she and her character came out — is a case in point. But surely someone with the prestige and power of Jodie Foster could challenge the squeamishness about homosexuality that still prevails in America. — The Guardian