Jodie Foster says though she is glad women are opening up about suffering from sexual abuse and harassment with the arrival of #MeToo in Hollywood, the actor believes the movement needs to graduate from a "transitional period".
The 55-year-old actor-activist said one cannot "put every man over 30 in jail" and for the campaign to succeed, it needs as much support from the men as it does from the women.
"This is a transitional period, and it's just so painful. You really have to have a plan for truth and reconciliation. We can't put every man over 30 in jail. We have to love our brothers and fathers and come to an understanding about how we got here and who we are going to be together," Foster told Porter Edit, weighing in on the post-Harvey Weinstein era in the showbiz.
Advertisement
The actor-director said #MeToo has also led women to question their past behaviours.
"I don't think there is a woman I know, who doesn't look back on when they were 15, 16, 17 or 18, who doesn't put their hand on their head and say, 'Why did I do that? Why was I like that? Why wasn't I confident? Why didn't I say no?'" she said.
Asked if fame she found as a child star and industry-savvy mother, Brandy, helped protect her from abusers, Foster agreed adding there were a "bunch of reasons" that her path was unlike other actors in Hollywood.
Advertisement
She started acting at the age of five with making her TV debut on the sitcom "Mayberry RFD" in 1967. Her feature film debut came with Disney's "Napoleon and Samantha" (1972), which followed iconic performances in films such as "Taxi Driver", "Bugsy Malone", "The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane" and Disney's "Freaky Friday", among others.
"The weird cauldron that made me – working from the time I was three years old, supporting my family by the time that I was seven, super-strong mom, over-confident personality, celebrity young enough that I learned to be stand-offish…
"I think there's a whole bunch of reasons why I didn't have the same path as someone who came to Hollywood at 22 with two cents in her pocket and just wanted more than anything else to be an actor. It's just a different life," he says.
