Who Are Jodie Foster's Kids? Meet the 'True Detective' Star's Sons, Charles and Kit

With hundreds of movie and television credits to her name, Hollywood icon Jodie Foster has been on the silver screen since she was just a child. 

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She grabbed her first role at age 3 and had already been nominated for an Academy Award by age 14 for her performance in "Taxi Driver" (1977).

Now, Foster is returning to the small screen with her first starring television role since 1975. She plays the hot-headed Detective Liz Danvers in the fourth season of "True Detective: Night Country," which premieres this month on HBO.

This season, Foster's character is trying to determine what happened when eight men suddenly vanished without a trace in a small Alaskan town right before the city enters its annual period of complete darkness.

Foster has been having a moment recently in Hollywood, racking up roles in films such as "Nyad" (2023) and "The Mauritanian" (2021) — which earned her a Golden Globe. 

But this latest onslaught of work comes after Foster had largely stayed out of the limelight for years and focused most of her work behind the camera — and on raising her children. 

The "Silence of the Lambs" star (1992) says once she became a mother to her two boys, she prioritized raising her children rather than taking a ton of acting roles. 

"I've really made room for my life, in a way," Foster told City Magazine in May 2023. "I had to. Because no one else was going to. I was there for every minute of what [my sons] did."

Foster said she even managed to feed her creative spirit as a mother. 

"I mean, there were just so many surprises about it," she said to Net-A-Porter in 2018 about motherhood. "It's been such a creative experience for me. That's probably why I worked so little when the boys were [younger]. A day of putting together Lego and making up a song about peanut butter was as creative as I needed to be."

The award-winning actress is a famously private person and tries to keep most of her personal life away from the public's prying eyes. It's understandable that there's not a lot of available information about her two sons, considering Foster grew up in the spotlight and has repeatedly said she fought to have a "normal" life.

But here's everything we do know about Jodie Foster's kids, Charles and Christopher.

A Heroic Co-Parent

Though the "Hotel Artemis" (2018) star has now been married to photographer Alexandra Hedison for a decade, she shares custody of her two boys with producer Cydney Bernard. 

The two dated for nearly two decades after meeting on the set of "Sommersby" in 1993. Foster dodged coming out of the closet for years, and the actress only ever publicly acknowledged she was with Bernard in 2007. 

But they parted ways in 2008 after raising their two sons together for years. It definitely wasn't a contentious breakup, and the two women have managed to stay friendly co-parents.

In 2013, Foster was given the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes and "officially" came out with her acceptance speech. She didn't actually say she was a lesbian or even queer, but Foster did say she was proud to "come out" as single. 

(Foster said she wasn't going to make some large coming-out speech because she had been honest with those she loved a long time ago.)

During the speech, the "Accused" (1988) star also thanked Bernard for being "one of the deepest loves" of her life.

"My heroic co-parent, my ex-partner in love but righteous soul sister in life, my confessor, ski buddy, consigliere, most beloved BFF of 20 years, Cydney Bernard. Thank you, Cyd," Foster said. "I am so proud of our modern family, our amazing sons, Charlie and Kit, who are my reason to breathe and to evolve."

Always a parent first, Foster ended the speech with a dedication to her sons: "Boys, in case you didn't know it, this song, like all of this, this song is for you."

Charles Bernard Foster

Charles Bernard Foster is the actress's first son and was born on July 20, 1998, when she was 37. 

He is rumored to have been conceived by artificial insemination, but Foster has never spoken publicly on the subject or confirmed the rumor. 

He's around 25 now and studied English and literature at Yale University — his mother's alma mater. 

Charles was also heavily involved in Yale's theater program while he attended, referring to himself as a "theater geek" in his bio on the Yale College Arts' website. 

He is obviously following in his famous mother's footsteps, as he earned a number of starring roles during his time at Yale. That includes the exuberant Dr. Frank-N-Furter in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and the titular character in the show "Pippin."

Since graduating college, Charles clearly is following his acting passions and has earned representation with ZOOM Talent Management. 

The agency posted on Facebook in March 2022 that Charles booked a recurring role in an "awesome" comedy podcast and a role in an upcoming feature film. It's unclear if either of those projects have premiered. 

But Charles also grabbed a role as an understudy in the company of Bess Wohl's "Camp Siegfried" at Second Stage Theatre in the fall of 2022. 

Foster told Net-A-Porter in 2018 that her oldest son is "super-charming" and "super-spontaneous." However, she also said she feels some guilt about not bringing the budding actor onto more film sets when he was younger.

But after she became famous as a toddler, Foster told the Guardian in 2018, she intentionally sought to keep her own children out of the limelight until they were older.

"I know the perils of having a parent involved in your art form are too great," she said. "My older son is getting more interested in acting now, and I'm glad he discovered it late."

Christopher "Kit" Bernard Foster

Foster's second-born, Christopher "Kit" Bernard Foster, came into the world on Sept. 29, 2001. 

Like his older brother, it's also rumored that he was conceived through artificial insemination. But, again, the rumor has never been confirmed or denied to the public. 

When it was revealed Foster was pregnant for a second time in April 2001, she told columnist Liz Smith she was excited he would be born in the fall.

 "I enjoyed being pregnant with Charlie and I look forward to this experience again," Foster said. "I am into all the health foods, yoga, and the rest of it."

Now around 22 years later, Kit is currently studying chemistry at Princeton University and is set to graduate in spring 2024. 

Foster told the Guardian she wasn't surprised Kit didn't appear to be following her footsteps into show business. 

"My younger son is really shy, and I can promise you he will never be an actor," she said.

Foster opened up to People magazine in 2007 when her children were still little about how difficult it is to be a parent, but also how rewarding it can be. 

"Every once in a while, I'll have one of those days when I've fed the fish, cleaned 10 poops from the patio, taken the cat to the vet, sewn my son's stupid karate stars on until my fingers bleed and made sure that he has everything, and he wakes up and goes, 'Oh, what's for breakfast?'" she joked. "There's absolutely no sort of acknowledgement or reward for this — except for the intangibility of my kids growing up to be wonderful people."

Since her sons have gotten older, Foster also said she started showing them some of her films.

"My little one was a little scared of 'Silence of the Lambs,'" she told Magic Radio in 2016. "I forget that it's a scary movie and I do know he's a little sensitive so I waited many, many years. Honestly, I didn't show them any of my movies when they were younger."  

Foster said she thinks her sons both thought she was a construction worker because, on the rare times they would come to the set, they saw guys with hammers and tool belts working. But she chose to keep that part of her life separate from Charlie and Kit while they grew up.

"I didn't want them to know me that way," she said. "I just wanted them to know me as their mom who went away and did a job that she loved. I didn't really want them to know my persona. As they've gotten older, I think they can handle it a bit better."

While the actress's awards and accolades from Hollywood actually have their own Wikipedia page, Foster has called parenting the biggest challenge of her life. But she told US Weekly in 2018 that it wasn't because the boys were difficult.

"Letting go has been challenging. And that's what I'm doing now," Foster said of her boys getting older. "It's the worrying. That's what you will find. Just because they're asleep doesn't mean you stop worrying about them. There's a switch that gets turned on that never gets turned off."

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