14 DAY TRIAL // Jodie Foster, regardless of how famous and accomplished an actress she is, has always dreaded being in the spotlight unless she’s fulfilling some contractual obligation or another. One thing that she positively abhors and has made no secret of is being stalked by paparazzi – and this is precisely what happened the other day, when she reportedly shoved a teenage fan.
The boy, who is no older than 17 and, according to his parents, a huge fan and of so small a constitution he couldn’t possibly be a physical threat to the star, was physically assaulted when he approached her for a picture and an autograph. She insulted and poked him, then grabbed him by the arm to remove him from her presence. The boy was left with serious scratches and bruises, and has even filed a police report to show that his injuries were real, his mother tells Radar.
“He saw Jodie Foster and is a big fan so went over and took a picture of her. She came after him, poked him in the chest and said, ‘Do you even have a mother you slime ball?’ Jodie pushed and shoved him leaving scratches and bruises on his arm. He didn’t mouth back at all and was scared of her. At one point Jodie’s son even came over to my son and apologized. Her kids were really embarrassed. This left a really bad impression on my son about her. He used to be a big fan and now he has a bad taste in his mouth. He’s a good kid; kind of small for his age. There was no threat to Jodie,” the mother explains.
The actress’ rep, though, has a different story to tell to People: according to him, the kid was a legitimate paparazzo who’d been stalking Jodie for the entire day, and eventually cornered her and her kids and incessantly snapped them. “This guy was most definitely a professional paparazzo. He had a large camera bag and 1000mm telephoto lens. He tailed Jodie and followed her all the way from the movie theater to the valet. He crowded her and her two young children and took photos of them the whole time. This guy’s behavior was completely inappropriate. And the police report is a fabrication of the incident,” the rep explains.
As of now, it is not known whether the allegedly injured teenager is thinking of pressing charges or not. In Jodie’s defense, if she was truly harassed by the paparazzo, she wouldn’t be the first to stumble on one of such a young age – which, of course, doesn’t excuse any type of violent behavior, if any was the case.