Lesbian : March 2008 Archives

In this Sunday's PARADE, Jodie Foster opens up about her childhood influences, how she almost quit acting and what she wants most for her children.

On Her Early Sense of Responsibility "I ask myself, 'What did I miss?'" I had my little rebellions, but they were minimal. So I ask, 'Why didn't I rebel more?' Then I remember -- because I was responsible for someone else. That's why I couldn't rebel. That's why I couldn't get lost for days on end. I always had to work."

On How Taxi Driver Changed Her Career "Before that, somebody would say, 'OK, here are your lines. You go here and do this and that. Just try to make it as natural as possible. With Taxi Driver, I had this eureka moment. I realized that acting could be much more than what I had been doing. I had to build a character that wasn't me."

On Her Childhood Attitude Toward Acting "To me, acting didn't seem like much of a profession. My mom always said, 'By the time you're 16, your career will be over. So what do you want to do then?' She was correct. Most child actors' careers end early. They're lost."

On Life After College "I saw leaving college as an opportunity to do something different with my life. I always thought that becoming an academic was going to be my path. I could've gone to New York, but I went back to Los Angeles because it was where I was from."

On What She Looks for in a Movie "I make dark dramas, movies about people living in desperate fear who then overcome that fear and find a heroic side to themselves."

One Raising Her Children "Boys are easy. I mean, there are just a lot of bruises when they're young. With boys, you get a lot of accidental jabs in the eye and stepping on your feet, and those tantrums they cause when they don't want to leave the toy store. ... But my boys are getting older now. They go to school all day, and then one wants to do T-ball and the other wants to do karate, so they're actually gone until four-thirty. I want them to have curiosity about things they don't know, and a desire to see places bigger than where they grew up."

I'm sure if Jodie Foster didn't have movies to promote, she'd shy away from doing interviews like the one that appears on the cover of Sunday's Parade. The cool site JustJared.com featured some curious excerpts today:

On protecting her kids, Charles Bernard Foster, 9, and Kit Bernard Foster, 6, from the spotlight: "I do what I can. We try not to go out at night or go places where there'll be 20 photographers. I try to minimize their exposure to assaults."

On being tight-lipped about her personal life: "I don't think there is any good thing about fame. In this business, in order to care for yourself and the people you love, you have to separate your professional life from your personal life."

And here's the real surprise:
On having not yet fallen in love: "Oh, my life is basically from the head up. I'm definitely not proud of that. I'm very analytical."

I assuming that last answer was taken out on context since Jodie is in a longtime relationship with Cydney Bernard who she. for the first time anyone can recall, at a breakfast for Hollywood Reporter's Women in Entertainment in December.

I was there, broke the story and believed it was Jodie's way of acknowledging in a public what she never discusses in interviews.

Earlier posts: Jodie Foster thanks "my beautiful Cydney" at women's power breakfast...

Thoughts on my Jodie Foster story...

My friend Betty is just over the moon over this: Showtime's "The L Word" is returning for a sixth season! That's the good news. The bad news: It will be the swan song for the popular lesbian drama with an all-star cast headed from day one by Jennifer Beals and features such later additions as Marlee Matlin and Cybil Shepherd.

"The L Word" follows a group of Los Angeles-based friends as they navigate careers, families, friendships, personal struggles and romantic relationships. The series became the first lesbian primetime drama on television when it debuted in January 2004.

Eight episodes have been ordered for the last season, down from the usual 12-13 episodes during the first five seasons. Production is set to begin in early summer for an early 2009 premiere. The Season 5 finale is set to air March 23.

Says series creator Ilene Chaiken: "This is by no means the end of 'The L Word. The brand and the social network community, OurChart.com, will continue to live and be a destination for lesbians everywhere and a lasting tribute to what 'The L Word' has accomplished."

She's the only child of Sonny and Cher and has used the spotlight to become an LGBT activist and author. Her book "Family Outing" came along at a time when I really needed to read it more than a decade ago and I wish Chastity Bono nothing but health and happiness.

Mostly, I wish her a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I missed "Saturday Night Live" but have just read on JustJared.com that "Juno" star Ellen Page made fun of the recent speculation that she's a lesbian during her closing skit. The Oscar nominee played a character that "so went gay" at a Melissa Etheridge/Indigo Girls concert.

"I just felt like i was an oil lamp that's never been lit," she said excitedly. "And now I'm finally burning bright with sister fire! There were so many cute short haircuts and I didn't care that I didn't have any make up on. I felt so free."

Andy Samberg played her psuedo-boyfriend, who told Page, "You are like a primo lesbian now."

Rolling on the floor and holding her legs up, Page's character shot back, screaming, "Gay, no way! ...Why does everything have to have a freaking label?? Why can't I just hug a woman with my LEGS in friendship???"