How frightening! Jodie Foster is revisiting one of the most terrifying moments of her early Hollywood life — a real encounter with a lion while filming the 1972 Disney adventure “Napoleon and Samantha.” She was only a child at the time, and the experience left a permanent imprint.
In a new interview with W Magazine, Foster revealed she still carries “many scars” from the attack, which happened when she was just nine years old.
Music, style, entertainment — straight to your inbox.
“I was mauled by a lion when I was eight‑and‑a‑half or nine,” she recalled. “The lion picked me up, shook me around, moved me horizontally, and then dropped me. I had two perfect punctures on one side and then two perfect punctures on the other, on my hip. But as the years have gone on and we get bigger, you know, who even knows where they are anymore. They kind of just move around.”
It’s chilling to imagine — a young Jodie Foster on a Disney set, suddenly in the jaws of a full‑grown lion. But in true Foster fashion, she survived, pushed forward, and grew into one of cinema’s most respected, versatile, and enduring performers.
And we absolutely love us some Foster — from NYAD to Panic Room, she continues to deliver powerhouse work decade after decade.
Comment below — did you know Jodie survived something this intense so young?
