Natalie Portman reflects on talking to Jodie Foster and how it made the actress feel.

Natalie Portman revealed that she still idealised Jodie Foster, and the reason is a legitimate one.

The Black Swan actress opened up on a recent episode of the Smartless podcast, about Jodie Foster approaching her, after she heard the actress’ speech about being sexualized as a young actor.

Foster’s career catapulted when she was 12 years old and was cast in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver as a child sex worker. Meanwhile Portman was 11 years old when she played a role in Léon: The Professional, which was her acting breakthrough as well..

“I did a speech at a Women’s March about being sexualized as a young actress, and she reached out to me after that, and we talked and it was amazing,” Portman said. “She’s still a role model.”

Portman also talked about learning how to protect herself from predators at a young age on-set by exhibiting a tough behaviour on the outside.

“That kind of projection of seriousness protected me in a way,” she said.

“‘Cause I feel like it was almost a warning signal like, ‘Oh, don’t do shit to her.’ Not that anyone ever, you know, deserves it or is asking for it. But I felt like that was my unconscious way of doing it.”