Jodie Foster says asking for a cappuccino led to a cathartic revelation that made her quit Hollywood
'I didn’t send that person a condolence letter when their mom died...' the celebrity admitted.
Most celebrities love the limelight and enjoy the privileges that come along with it, but when "Panic Room" actor Jodie Foster realized that her fame made her somewhat selfish and apathetic to others, she quickly stepped away. In a candid interview with Variety published on January 7, she recalled an incident where she asked someone on the set to bring her a cappuccino. That moment may look very insignificant and small, but for Foster, it led to a cathartic revelation about success; in fact, she was so moved by the realization that she was determined to quit acting after turning 50.
Foster has won two Oscars in the Best Actress category, one for "The Accused" in 1988 and the other for "The Silence of the Lambs " in 1991. Her achievement is 'extra' special as she won both the Academy Awards at a young age, even before she turned 30. Early fame and recognition made her a bit distant — a bit wary of people, but Foster only realized it when she self-introspected her demanding self on the set. "I asked someone for a cappuccino? I did what? I thought I knew what I was talking about and ranted on for 45 minutes. I didn’t send that person a condolence letter when their mom died; I wasn’t at their wedding. I disappeared for four months and expected everybody to be my friend when I came back?" she revealed. The "Freaky Friday" actress, 63, has been working since she was barely 3 years old; in fact, her performance in 1976's "Taxi Driver" as a 12-year-old established her as a serious young actress. Amidst the growing success, Foster feared that she was perhaps becoming a monster without the empathy that a humble human being must have.
APS Fellow Adam Galinsky (Columbia University) was intrigued by the hypotheses: Powerful and influential people cannot see situations from other people's points of view; this means, they're less empathetic than those in not-so-powerful positions. In one of the experiments, Galinsky and his colleagues gave the participants a set of 24 images of facial expressions, each depicting one of the four emotions: happiness, fear, anger, or sadness. The participants were asked to guess the emotions, but it turned out that people who thought themselves powerful made more mistakes while guessing the emotions than others. This means feeling powerful reduces emotional sensitivity, and that power makes people less attentive towards others, something that Foster realized quite early in life.
Foster loves her craft but does not necessarily enjoy the celebrity status; in an interview with NPR, she revealed she wanted to make movies she loves and focus all her energies on her performance, rather than get caught up in celebrity culture. Foster also opened up about wanting to keep her personal life under wraps; she said she deliberately avoided handing over her life to the media. "I wanted to give everything of myself on screen, and I wanted to survive intact by having a life and not handing that life over to the media and to people who wished me ill," Foster said. At last, she spoke about her desire to make movies that could make people better, and that she never wanted to be a public figure pioneer, or an activist — just do her job and go home like the rest of us. While Foster still enjoys global fame, the actress has developed an intensely private life away from the public eye and keeps herself grounded lest she forget the lesson a cappuccino taught her.
More on Scoop Upworthy
Actor Mr. T was once asked why he wears old shoes despite being rich — his response was humbling
Mom teaches daughter an important lesson for passing mean comments about brother's Christmas gifts
Share on Facebook
