“The problem is there’s not much written for people in their 50s; it’s a confused moment in people’s lives, and it’s hard to portray that transition.”

Jodie Foster’s Coming of Age

The actress looks back at the time a shooter attempted to assassinate President Reagan on her behalf—and discusses the unexpected perks of being an older woman in Hollywood

By Nancy Jo Sales

One of my first days at Yale, I walked into the campus post office, and there was Jodie Foster. I almost fell down the stairs. Jodie was already an icon by that time, as well as a personal hero.

I’d grown up with her Disney movies, my favorite being Freaky Friday, which came out in 1976. That was the same year she starred in Taxi Driver, for which she was nominated for a best-supporting-actress Oscar, playing a tough-talking streetwalker at age 14.