Jodie Foster Cracks Open the Door: Thanks Cydney in Accepting Sherry Lansing Leadership Award

I can fully understand the desire to keep ones personal life private. However, if this action is a step towards Jody Foster opening the closet door publicly (http://www.afterellen.com/people/2007/12/jodiefoster), I applaud her for doing so. She is an amazingly talented actress and has a huge fan base who should accept her on the merits of her work alone. I believe that as more prominent, popular celebrities come out, it can only help further the cause of gay rights and diminish the negative image of us as messed up alcoholics and drug users our Christian Right enemies try to sell to the public. It will be interesting to see if Jody makes any further moves to publicly acknowledge her apparent partner. Here are some story highlights:

In a surprising and moving speech on Tuesday, Jodie Foster, 45, thanked "my beautiful Cydney who sticks with me through all the rotten and the bliss" when she accepted the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award at the 16th annual Women in Entertainment Power 100 breakfast.

The award is named after the former chief of Paramount Pictures, Sherry Lansing, who told the Associated Press that she was "overwhelmed to be presenting it to Jodie." The L.A. Daily News reporter covering the event, Greg Hernandez, noted surprise "at the public acknowledgment of who I presume is Cydney Bernard, the woman who is widely reported to be her life partner," because Foster has always been "so intensely private."

Foster has steadfastly refused to discuss or publicly acknowledge her relationship with Cydney Bernard, whom she reportedly met on the set of Sommersby in 1993. Although Bernard has accompanied her to premieres and public events outside the United States, Foster has never brought her to public events in America. But in the last year or so, Foster has seemed to be taking small steps toward making her private life a little bit more public.