Jodi Foster says her sons thought she was a construction worker when they were kids.
The Oscar winner appeared on Friday’s episode of The View and revealed that she intentionally kept her acting career under wraps to her children.
According to People, Foster and ex Cydney Bernard welcomed two sons, Charles, now 25, and Christopher “Kit,” 22.
“I think that I wanted them to know me as their mom and the person that went away to work,” said Foster. "I didn't want them to be confused about what I did for a living."
The actress recalled a time she brought Charles with her to work when he was a three-year-old, set him up with a plastic toolbelt, and pointed out the different sets.
“For a really long time he thought I was a construction worker,” Foster quipped.
The show’s co-host asked Foster if her children have ever watched any of her films now that they’re older.
“No, they have no interest in watching my movies with me,” she said. “I think they’re gonna catch True Detective ‘cause they’re really into that. There’s a few films that I would never show them because I’d be worried about being teased.”
She continued, “Nell, for example, they’ve never seen because they do tease me often about that, even though they’ve never seen the movie.”
Foster, whose multi-decade career began when she was merely a child herself, spoke with the Guardian for a profile published earlier this month. The 61-year-old actress admitted that she thinks some younger actors are “annoying” due to their work ethic.
“They’re really annoying, especially in the workplace," Foster told the outlet. "They’re like, ‘Nah, I’m not feeling it today, I’m gonna come in at 10.30am.’ Or, like, in emails, I’ll tell them this is all grammatically incorrect, did you not check your spelling? And they’re like, ‘Why would I do that, isn’t that kind of limiting?’”
She had a different tune with 20-year-old The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey, who introduced her at Elle Magazine’s Women in Hollywood event last year. Foster recalled that Ramsey was "wearing the most perfect suit, beautifully tailored, and a middle parting and no makeup.”
Foster also said she would be interested in mentoring the latest crop of Hollywood stars in hopes of helping them “learn how to relax, how to not think about it so much, how to come up with something that’s theirs.”
“I can help them find that, which is so much more fun than being, with all the pressure behind it, the protagonist of the story.”
Foster is currently starring in HBO’s True Detective. The hit series returned for its fourth season, subtitled Night Country, on Jan. 14.
