REEL, REAL LIFE ROLES: Dalle and Schiffer.

Jodie Foster, one of America's best actresses and claimed by gays as a lesbian icon, will soon have her closely-guarded private life made public by her elder brother, Buddy, in a biography, Foster Child. The book discloses her sexual ambivalence and shows her as a woman greatly influenced by her mother's dislike of men and extremely wary of relationships.

Thirty-four-year-old Foster, who has lived an unglamorous life without an obvious partner, has usually formed close relationships with women such as Renee Missel, the film producer. But though she is said to feel great warmth towards women, in the last few years she has been friendly with several men including English actor Julian Sands and film executive Randy Stone.

Buddy, who ran away from home at 15, has shared a poor relationship with Foster and their mother since her teenage years when her acting career eclipsed his. Though Foster has not authorised the book, she has read it and has come to an agreement with the publishers on what Heinemann calls "a few minor changes".

If Foster were to `out' herself, she would be joining a club of which TV star Ellen DeGeneres and Cher's daughter Chastity Bono are already members. And the latest couple to sizzle -- but only on-screen -- are French actress Beatrice Dalle and super moder Claudia Schiffer in Abel Ferrara's The Blackout.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.