Jodie Foster Accused of Battery by Photographer

June 15, 2010— -- Jodie Foster's carefully constructed wall of privacy was punctured recently by a 17-year-old shutterbug who accused the actress of attacking him after he snapped a photo of her with her two sons at a Los Angeles shopping center.

A spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed for ABCNews.com that there is "an ongoing investigation of a misdemeanor battery" but would not release any details.

According to the New York Times, the young photographer filed a police report after the May 29 incident claiming that Foster, 47, had poked him in the chest and grabbed his left arm, causing visible injury.

Foster's spokesperson fought back, telling People magazine that the young man was really "a professional paparazzo." The spokesperson told US Weekly that the actress had merely "touched him on the elbow in an attempt to take him aside to talk to him and tell him to stop."

In any case, the incident has put Foster, one of Hollywood's most private actresses, and her overzealous protection of her personal life under media scrutiny. Single mother to Charles, 11, and Kit, 8, the two-time Academy Award winning actress is intensely guarded about her private life.

"Having grown up a child star, Jodie's always put up an extra wall of privacy around her," Village Voice columnist Michael Musto told ABCNews.com. "Being obsessed by John Hinckley Jr. understandably drove her deeper into self-consciousness and trepidation. On top of that, she's extremely protective of her sons. The photographer apparently trailed her and her kids, and that may have pushed her into overreacting."