Who’s more qualified to offer an opinion on the foibles of Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan than Jodie Foster?
The correct answer is no one.
Foster has been in show business for 41 of her 44 years, and her career has included its fair share of controversy and media attention.
During a recent private lunch in her Beverly Hills Hotel suite, we discussed the spiraling difficulties being experienced by the young women of Hollywood. The two-time Oscar winner was both sympathetic and critical.
On the one hand, Foster said these young women bring the troubles on themselves.
“It’s a vicious cycle,” she explained. “They wouldn’t be followed around by the paparazzi and tabloid press 24 hours a day if the media didn’t know that these women were going to do something stupid to screw up their lives.”
On the other hand, Foster said she understands why some of these women might be so inclined to do stupid things.
“If you’ve never lived in the public eye and been followed by carloads of photographers, you can’t understand the type of stress it creates. Being followed all the the time makes you do stupid things that you wouldn’t ordinarily do. Believe me, I’ve done my share of stupid things under those conditions.”
Foster, whose new vigilante film “The Brave One” opens Friday, said these troubled young women should look for a better role model, and the actress suggested they look no further than their contemporary Natalie Portman.
“If these women lived more boring lives, like Natalie Portman, then they wouldn’t be chased down the street,” Foster said. “I admire Natalie Portman, and I think she is one of the best actresses in Hollywood, but she has decided that she is just going to live her life as normal as possible. She’s figured it out. She goes about her business, and nobody follows her around.”
Mr. Koltnow,
I must admit that I am somewhat surprised that during an interview with an artist of Ms. Foster’s caliber that the topic should degrade itself to Hilton, Lohan and Spears milleu.
To me that would be like being granted an audience with the pope and discussing the moral fiber of P Diddy, Eminem or Bill Clinton.
I pretty much feel that any time spent on these “too much too soon fast lane girls” is a waste of good paper and ink. Or in this case, bandwidth.
Papa Bob
Amen Papa Bob!
Wow, is interesting to see Foster’s opinion on young Hollywood. I like the fact that she admires Natalie Portman; I also think she’s (Portman) a good role model for young actresses.
I think Ms. Foster is wrong on Ms. Portman not being followed. She does get follow not as much as the other young ladies, but she does get follow.
Ms. Portman knows to be more discreet and acknowledge that she has fans, stalkers and paparazzi watching her and her moves at all time and there is very little she could do, except to be aware and be take precaution, but Ms. Foster is right about one thing. Ms. Portman is a positive role model for young actress and for women in general.