Jodie Foster's "Coming Out Speech" at 2013 Golden Globes

When veteran actress Jodie Foster hit the stage to accept her Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award at the Golden Globes, no one, especially the crowded room full of Hollywood's elite, could predict what she would have to say.

Without explicitly stating that she was gay, the message was evident. "I'm just going to put it out there, loud and proud ... I am, uh, single," she said. "I hope you're not disappointed that there won't be a big coming-out speech tonight. I already did my coming-out about a thousand years ago back in the Stone Age."

The 50-year-old Oscar-winner, who has starred in "Silence of the Lambs" and "The Accused" has been very private about her personal life and sexual orientation until now. She joked that today's stars are somewhat expected to announce their sexuality with a grand show. "And you guys might be surprised, but I am not Honey Boo Boo Child. No. I'm sorry. That's just not me. It never was and it never will be. But please don't cry, because my reality show would be so boring.

If you had been a public figure from the time that you were a toddler, if you'd had to fight for a life that felt real and honest and normal against all odds, then maybe you, too, might value privacy above all else," she added.

She also thanked Cydney Bernard, a production manager whom she shouted out as "my heroic co-parent, my ex-partner in love but righteous soul sister in life." Her former partner of 20 years, Bernard and Foster have two sons.

The actress also mentioned the possibility of retirement. "This feels like the end of one era and the beginning of something else. Scary and exciting, and now what?" Foster said. "I may never be up on this stage again, on any stage, for that matter."

Later, she clarified to reporters, "I could never stop acting. You'd have to drag me behind a team of horses. I'd like to be directing tomorrow. I'm more into it than I have ever been."

As for why she chose the exact time and place for such a proclamation, she said, "The speech kind of speaks for itself...It's a big moment. I wanted to say what's most in my heart."