You know Jodie Foster, that actress who you've always presumed to be a lesbian even though she's never explicitly stated as much in public?

Yeah, turns out she's a lesbian. At the Hollywood Reporter's Women in Entertainment Power 100 breakfast earlier this week, Jodie Foster decided that the time was right to bravely step out of the closet and admit her homosexuality to the world by dedicating an award to her same-sex partner of close to two decades. And Jodie Foster's lesbian announcement sent ripples of shock throughout the planet, or at least throughout the one remaining partially-blind pensioner from the remotest part of rural Tajikistan who'd never been able to work out why that lovely Jodie Foster girl had avoided settling down with a nice man for so long.

People always act surprised when actors reveal their hidden homosexuality, and really there's no reason to – hopefully by now we live in an age when we can accept that some of the people we see prancing around doing funny voices and pretending to be other people in movies with their faces caked in make-up might be a little bit on the gay side.

And yet it still takes some big stars years to admit their homosexuality. It's alright for Lance Bass or that bloke from Savage Garden to come out because they barely count as famous at all any more, but what if you're a genuine star? Wouldn't being gay hurt your reputation?

Jodie Foster doesn't seem to think so, because Jodie Foster has finally decided to publicly admit her 20-year lesbian relationship to Cydney Bernard. True, in most people's eyes Jodie Foster already had a bit of a lesbiany reputation, but she's always closely guarded her private life. Besides, after deciding to publicly support Mel Gibson after his Sugartits rant, Jodie Foster probably didn't think she had a lot to lose.

And that's why, at the breathtakingly-titled Hollywood Reporter's Women in Entertainment Power 100 breakfast this week – where she was the guest of honour – Jodie Foster decided to finally admit that she's a lesbian by dedicating her award to her same-sex life partner, thanking:

"my beautiful Cydney who sticks with me through all the rotten and the bliss."

At least we assume that Jodie Foster was thanking Cydney Bernard. She might have been referring to the Australian city of Sydney, or Sidney Poitier, or the regionally-brewed real ale Sid's Knee, the effects of which we assume she was feeling when she signed up to star in The Brave One.

But at least now Jodie Foster has publicly confirmed that she's a lesbian – and to a pleasantly indifferent reaction – she'll be able to carry on as normal. And that will be reflected in her new movie, a Panic Room-style thriller about a woman who can't stop crying because someone took her doggy-woggy away.

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Jodie Foster Reveals Her Lesbian Lover – News.com.au