Jodie Foster has scars after being 'mauled by a lion' as a child star
Jodie Foster has recalled being "mauled by a lion" on the set of Napoleon and Samantha as a child star, and she still has the scars from the terrifying attack.
Jodie Foster still has scars after being "mauled by a lion" as a child.
The 63-year-old actress has recalled a terrifying experience at just nine years old on the set of 1972 Disney film Napoleon and Samantha, when she was attacked by the big cat.
Revealing she has "many scars" from the incident, she told W Magazine: “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.
"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.”
Jodie explained that there is no footage of the attack, which happened once they'd finished the take.
She admitted: “I was in shock, so I don’t really remember that much. I remember the event.
"I saw his mane come forward and I had worked with the lions, but when he picked me up, he picked me up and then 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.”
Thankfully, the lion's trainer was able to regain control of the situation, which Jodie described as "probably the scariest thing that ever happened to me when I was making a movie".
She returned to set after recovering in hospital, and ended up having to "work with the same lion", although this time she was "carrying a rooster" for the scene.
She said: "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.”
