Acclaimed actress and director Jodie Foster has shared a deeply personal and traumatic memory from her childhood, revealing how the tragic death of her puppy left a lasting scar and influenced her perspective on her early fame.
A Horrific Childhood Memory
In a recent interview with AARP magazine, Foster, now 63, recounted the devastating incident that occurred in 1976, just before she left for France to attend the Cannes Film Festival premiere of Taxi Driver. She was only 13 years old at the time.
"My puppy, he was a little guy," Foster told the outlet, "went careening down these very slick steps and hit a wall. His whole skull exploded into blood right in front of me." The two-time Oscar winner described the event as a "sad, sad moment" that she never discussed with her mother or anyone else.
The 'Faustian Bargain' of Early Stardom
Foster revealed that for most of her life, she subconsciously believed the tragedy was linked to her subsequent success. Her role in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, opposite Robert De Niro, would cement her status as a leading young Hollywood star.
She explained that she came to think she had unknowingly struck a 'Faustian bargain'—that she had to give up "the thing I loved most to get this success." Foster compared her childhood magical thinking to the protagonist in the film Amelie, believing she was so powerful that a personal sacrifice was required for her career to flourish.
Connecting Trauma to Her New Film 'A Private Life'
Foster revisited this painful memory while discussing her latest film, A Private Life, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2025. In the movie, she plays Lilian Steiner, an American psychoanalyst in Paris investigating a client's suspicious death.
She noted the film explores how people suppress traumatic experiences. "Lilian thinks she’s solving a mystery," Foster said. "But the truth is, the entire path she takes is about her turning around in a circle so that she can see sides of herself she was unwilling to see."
Survival Skills and a Long Career
Foster credited her mother with providing the "survival skills" needed to navigate childhood stardom and sustain a decades-long career in front of and behind the camera. She recalled that her mother even warned her that her acting career would be over by age 18, and then again by 40.
"I’m grateful that my mom loved me and wanted to protect my psyche," Foster told AARP. "She taught me how to be careful with what I gave out. You give a lot as an actor... If I wanted to survive, there were areas that people just weren’t going to have."
Foster also disclosed that, at age 13, she had to undergo a four-hour psychological evaluation to prove she was "sane enough" to handle the mature themes of Taxi Driver.
Finding Peace in Her 60s
The actress reflected on the challenges of different decades, stating that her 50s were particularly difficult. "I felt like a failure. I kept thinking I was supposed to do something meaningful and hadn’t done it. I felt like I couldn’t live up to my own potential," she admitted.
However, Foster said everything changed when she turned 60. "It was like a light bulb went off in my head... I was like, 'Yeah, I don’t care. I’m no longer tortured by any of this. I don’t know why I seemed to care so much.'" This newfound perspective has allowed her to move past the self-imposed pressures that once defined her.
