Jamie Foxx On Fending Off Reality Stars, Staying Young & Defending His Family

Jamie Foxx may be an Oscar winner and a chart-topping singer, but the star told Parade that being a celebrity these days isn’t easy.

“It’s hard to be a celebrity nowadays. It’s not about your track record anymore,” he explained. “If you have a great movie, you’re good. If not, people are ready to write you off. I think the only ones who are really winning are people like Will Smith. People go, ‘Oh, it’s Will Smith. I’ve got to see him, whatever he’s in.’”

One problem, he told the mag, is the rise of reality stars.

“It’s tough because the lines have been blurred,” he said. “I was watching that reality show with Jon and Kate. They’re huge, and I don’t even know what they’re huge for. They somehow crossed over because they’re just as popular as Brad Pitt.”

And Jamie said the music world is no different, with his own daughter telling him he needed to sound younger to have a hit.

“My daughter always goes, ‘Dad you sound old. You sound 50. Why don’t you have a machine on your voice? They’re not going to like that. You gotta sound young,’” he said. “Then when she heard me sing [the Auto-Tuned] ‘Blame It,’ she went, ‘That’s it. That’s real music.’”

Jamie, who stars in the new tense big screen drama “Law Abiding Citizen,” had strong feelings when it came to his family when asked about the renewed legal battle over director Roman Polanski.

“If it had been my daughter who was barely a teenager — my daughter is 15 — Roman Polanski would be missing . . . period. It wouldn’t even get to the court case,” he said. “But, that’s me and I wouldn’t want anyone else to follow that because you should let the justice system work it out… I just think this whole issue is bigger than Roman Polanski.”

While he plays a district attorney facing off with a wronged man seeking revenge (Gerard Butler) in the film, Jamie added that he empathizes with the other side.

“Revenge is a tough thing. When it comes to someone bringing harm to your family, it’s hard to think about turning the other cheek. When I hear about things that we allow to go on in our society where women are harmed, I just knee-jerk,” he said. “Some of things I’ve said I’d do to sexual perpetrators were pretty graphic. But I also read some stories of people taking the law into their own hands, which is bad too. So it’s tough to know how far you’d go.”

“Law Abiding Citizen” is due in theaters on Friday.