Jodie Foster reflects on harsh reality of why she escaped sexual abuse as actress

Jodie Foster is being realistic about why she managed to escape sexual misconduct growing up as an actress.

Foster acknowledged that her 1977 Oscar nomination for Taxi Driver, in which she played a teen prostitute, gave her power in the industry and set her apart from others in a more vulnerable position.

The Silence of the Lambs actress told NPR’s Fresh Air, "I’ve really had to examine that, like, how did I get saved? There were microaggressions, of course. Anybody who’s in the workplace has had misogynist microaggressions. That’s just a part of being a woman, right? But what kept me from having those bad experiences, those terrible experiences?"

"And what I came to believe … is that I had a certain amount of power by the time I was, like, 12," the Panic Room star admitted. "So by the time I had my first Oscar nomination, I was part of a different category of people that had power and I was too dangerous to touch. I could’ve ruined people’s careers or I could’ve called ‘Uncle,’ so I wasn’t on the block."

Foster, who began her career in the ‘60s as a child star, also noted that her "head-first" personality may also have served to ward off predators.

"It’s very difficult to emotionally manipulate me because I don’t operate with my emotions on the surface. Predators use whatever they can in order to manipulate and get people to do what they want them to do. And that’s much easier when the person is younger, when the person is weaker, when a person has no power," she reflected.

Jodie Foster went on to win her first Oscar in 1989 for The Accused and her second in 1992 for The Silence of the Lambs.