Jodie Foster and her children, Charles Bernard Foster and Christopher “Kit” Bernard Foster, at the 2016 AMD British Academy Britannia Awards on Oct. 28, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. PHOTO: KEVORK DJANSEZIAN/BAFTA LA/GETTY

The True Detective: Night Country actress welcomed her firstborn, Charles Bernard, in 1998. Three years later, she gave birth to her son Christopher “Kit” Bernard. Foster shares her children with her former partner, Cydney Bernard, whom she split from in 2008. The actress married Alexandra Hedison in 2014.

Foster has spoken about the importance of maintaining her kids’ private lives when they were younger. “If you had to fight for a life that felt real and honest and normal against all odds, then maybe you too would value privacy above all else,” she said at the 2013 Golden Globes.

During the same speech, the actress thanked her ex-partner, Bernard, as well as their kids.

“I am so proud of our modern family,” she said. “Our amazing sons, Charlie and Kit, who are my reason to breathe and to evolve.”

Here’s everything to know about Jodie Foster’s children, Charlie and Kit.

Charles “Charlie” Bernard Foster, 25

Jodie Foster and her son Charles Bernard Foster attend the 47th AFI Life Achievement Award honoring Denzel Washington on June 6, 2019 in Hollywood, California.MATT WINKELMEYER/GETTY

Foster first became a mother on July 20, 1998, when she gave birth to her son, Charles Bernard Foster. She announced that she was expecting in March of the same year and told PEOPLE, “I know everybody’s been through pregnancy, but it’s still a big deal.”

At the time, she was in a long-term relationship with Bernard. Charles, who goes by Charlie, was born in Los Angeles and raised by both of his mothers.

As Charlie got older, Foster said he started becoming more interested in the Hollywood lifestyle.

Speaking with More magazine in 2007, the actress shared, “[He’ll say] ‘I want to be in movies. Why can’t you get me a job?’ Then I say, ‘You have to earn that. If you want to be an actor, you can start by doing a little theater.’ Then he says, ‘I’m not interested in that. I just want to be famous and see my face.’”

Jodie Foster and her sons, Christopher Foster and Charlie Foster, at Sony Pictures Golden Globes Party on Jan. 15, 2012 in Beverly Hills, California.ERIC CHARBONNEAU/WIREIMAGE

In 2016, Foster told PEOPLE, “he’s an amazing artist” who was “really into improv.” She added, “he’s also a really good student, so he’ll go to college.” After high school, Charlie went to Yale, the same university as his mother.

According to the Yale College Arts website, Charlie took part in many school theater productions as an actor and crew member from 2017 to 2021.

In a 2018 interview with Net-a-Porter, Foster called her elder son “super-charming” and “super-spontaneous” before telling a funny story about Charlie as a toddler.

“I didn’t want them [my kids] to know about my celebrity at all,” she shared. “I remember when my son was about 4, he thought I was a construction worker.”

Christopher “Kit” Bernard Foster, 22

Jodie Foster and her son Christopher ‘Kit’ Bernard Foster.MICHAEL BUCKNER/VARIETY/PENSKE MEDIA/GETTY

On Sept. 29, 2001, Foster gave birth to her second son, Christopher Bernard Foster, whom she nicknamed Kit.

When announcing her second pregnancy, Foster told the gossip columnist Liz Smith, “I enjoyed being pregnant with Charlie and I look forward to this experience again. I am into all the health foods, yoga, and the rest of it.”

Kit was born in L.A., where he grew up with his brother Charlie and two moms.

Jodie Foster and her children, Charles Bernard Foster and Christopher Bernard Foster, at the 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 13, 2013.CHRISTOPHER POLK/NBC/GETTY

“I have a psychological need to create a really safe, normal life for them [my kids], because if there was anything I missed in my childhood, that was it,” Foster told Psychologies Magazine in 2007. “I really craved having a routine, stable life and that’s what I’ve given to my kids.”

Talking to PEOPLE about Kit in 2016, she shared, “My little one is just the nicest person I’ve ever met.” In another interview with Magic Radio the same year, she said, “he’s a little sensitive,” and added that she “waited many, many years” to let him watch her film The Silence of the Lambs.

Unlike his older brother, Foster has said Kit isn’t interested in pursuing a career in the entertainment industry. “My younger son is really shy and I can promise you he will never be an actor,” she told The Guardian in 2018.