Natalie Portman has opened up about her family life following her divorce from her ex-husband Benjamin Millepied.
The 43-year-old reflected on how she was "excited" to start a family with someone she "was in love with" in the latest issue of Interview Magazine.
© Getty Images"I was just excited to have kids, and with a person that I was in love with. But it’s really important to have people in your life who keep you on the ground," she shared.
Natalie shares two children, son Aleph, 13, and daughter, Amalia, eight, with the French choreographer. "My kids are always a source of excitement, because you just see them develop into the individuals they are," she said.
© Getty Images"And also, I’ve been spending a lot of time with my friends, with their kids and my kids; that’s pretty fun."
It was reported that Benjamin's extramarital affair in 2023 was the reason for the separation. The former couple met on set of Black Swan back in 2009 and announced their engagement the following year. The actress and dancer tied the knot in 2012.
Natalie opens up on her childhood spent in the spotlight
In the interview, Natalie also revealed the challenges she faced as a young actress after being sexualized in the industry.
Natalie opened up about how her image was sexualized when she first entered Hollywood, and how that experience led her to adopt a persona of intelligence as a form of self-protection.
© Getty ImagesJenna Ortega, who stars alongside Natalie in The Gallerist, conducted the interview and asked the actress if she believed the public's perception of her was "on the money" or if she felt she's been able to "keep things just for" herself.
"I think there’s a public understanding of me that’s different from who I am. I’ve talked about it a little before—about how, as a kid, I was really sexualized, which I think happens to a lot of young girls who are onscreen. I felt very scared by it," replied Natalie.
"Obviously sexuality is a huge part of being a kid, but I wanted it to be inside of me, not directed towards me. And I felt like my way of protecting myself was to be like, 'I'm so serious. I'm so studious. I'm smart, and that's not the kind of girl you attack'."
She continued: "I was like, if I create this image of myself, I'll be left alone. It shouldn't be a thing, but it worked. But I think that’s the disconnect between me being stupid and silly in real life, and people thinking that I’m some really serious bookish person."
"I'm not a particularly private person in real life – I'll tell you anything—but in public, it was so clear early on that if you tell people how private you are, your privacy gets respected a lot more. I set up a little bit of a barrier to be like, 'I'm not going to do photo shoots with my kids'," she added.
Early roles
Natalie made her acting debut at the age of 12 when she starred in the 1994 film Leon: The Professional as a young girl who befriends a hit man following the murder of her parents. The film received a wave of criticism surrounding the character's relationship with the middle-aged murderer.
In 1996, the actress took on the role of a 13-year-old girl in Ted Demme's romantic comedy-drama Beautiful Girls. The film follows a 30-year-old man, played by Timothy Hutton, fantasizing on Natalie's character.
"There are definitely tropes, and I think at each phase in my career, there was a different one that I was like, 'Oh, I've got to avoid this'," she reflected.
"Obviously there was a long Lolita phase, then there was the long 'chick who helps the guy realize his emotional thing' phase for about a decade. And now I feel like it’s 'mothers who have harmed children', which is just like, I cannot emotionally go there."
