Jodie FosterJodie Foster has given the biggest indication yet that she may be set to publicly confirm her relationship with film production manager Cydney Bernard.

The couple are rumoured to have been together since meeting on the set of Jodie’s film Sommersby in 1993 but even though Jodie’s two children both have the middle name “Bernard” in honour of Cydney, the Panic Room star has refused to publicly discuss, or even confirm, their relationship.

However at the 16th Annual Women in Entertainment Power 100 breakfast this week, Jodie thanked “my beautiful Cydney” as she collected the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award.

During her acceptance speech, Jodie called herself a “professional” and a “gentleman”, and thanked Cydney for “stick[ing] with me through all the rotten and the bliss”.

She went on to say she feels “something of an impostor” in Hollywood but is proud of what she has accomplished in her career: “Growing up, there were hardly any women in my professional sphere - there was maybe a script supervisor, the makeup artist and the lady who played my mother. I became the prodigal daughter after I proved myself in a family of men.”

“I don’t feel very powerful. I feel fragile … unsure, struggling to figure it all out, trying to get there even though I’m not sure where there is … I’ve been working in this business for 42 years and there’s no way you can do that and not be as nutty as a fruitcake.”