Jodie Foster opens up about scars from being mauled by Lion as a child actor

Many actors over the years have opened up about their poor experiences of being a child star.

Between celebrities turning to drugs after their time on sets and others who disappear from the limelight after struggling with fame, there is a long history of child film stars not having a great time on set.

There are not many, however, who can claim to have been mauled by a lion though, but legendary actor Jodie Foster is one of them.

The Silence of The Lambs Oscar winner, who also won for her role in The Accused, has opened up about how she still has scars from being mauled by a lion on a film set when she was nine.

Foster spoke about this in a recent interview with W to discuss the scars she received filming Napoleon and Samantha.

Her big screen debut, the 1972 film focused on a young boy Napoleon, who escaped to the wild with his pet lion and friend Samantha.

Speaking about her ‘many scars’, Foster said: “I was mauled by a lion when I was eight-and-a-half or nine.

“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."

The film was Foster's big screen debut (Disney)

She stated it wasn’t filmed, adding: “It was after the shot was over. I was in shock, so I don't really remember that much.

“He picked me up, and then he moved me sideways and shook me around, and so, as he turned me back and towards the whole camera crew, I saw the whole camera crew run — except sideways.

“So, I saw them running sideways, taking all their equipment with them, just like, running away from me."

She went on to say she assumes the trainer instructed the Lion to drop her because she was let go before adding: “I think that was probably the scariest thing that ever happened to me when I was making a movie.

“I'm not sure I had time for fear, honestly."

Foster still has scars from the experience (Disney)

After coming out of hospital and being deemed fit to work, Foster was made to go back to work with the same lion, though she stated that she was now carrying a rooster.

She finally added: “The rooster was not used to working with this particular lion. And I saw the lion turn his head and kind of go like this, like maybe he was going to approach me or something, and I threw the rooster, and I ran.

“I think that's probably a scarier moment.”

She had previously spoken about the experience on The Graham Norton Show in 2024, however, it is a bizarre story to hear retold any time it comes up.

Considering the other major obstacles Jodie Foster had to overcome on her way to becoming one of the most beloved actors of all time, returning to acting after being mauled by a lion in your first film has to rank as a pretty impressive achievement.