Oscar winner Jodie Foster, 51, tied the knot with 44-year-old Los Angeles-based photographer Alexandra Hedison at the weekend, Foster’s publicist Jennifer Allen confirmed.

It is the first marriage for the actress and film producer, who came out publicly in a rambling, heartfelt speech at the 2013 Golden Globe Awards, where she accepted lifetime achievement honours.

After saying she planned to make a big announcement which would make her publicist nervous, Foster jokingly revealed she was single.

“I hope that you’re not disappointed that there won’t be a big coming-out speech tonight ... because I already did my coming-out about a thousand years ago back in the Stone Age,” she said.

Celebrities are now expected to reveal they are gay with a presser, fragrance or reality show

She said celebrities are now expected to reveal they are gay “with a press conference, a fragrance or a primetime reality show”, but her approach had been more personal.

Foster acknowledged long-time partner Cydney Bernard, with whom she has two sons. The couple ended their 20-year relationship in 2008. While Jodie never hid the relationship, she kept her sexuality private until the Globes speech.

Cable television channel E!, which was first to report the wedding, said that Foster and Hedison have been dating since last summer.

Hedison, who was previously linked to Ellen DeGeneres, is also an actress with TV credits, including Nash Bridges and The L Word.