Natalie Portman is sharing the truth about growing up in Hollywood and how she learned to protect herself at a young age.
The Oscar-winning actress, now 43, recently spoke with Jenna Ortega for Interview Magazine. In their conversation, Portman opened up about the pressure and fear she felt as a child actor. She started working in movies when she was just 12 years old, starring in the R-rated film Léon: The Professional. At that age, she was already being seen through a lens that mixed childhood with adult ideas of sexuality—something she found very uncomfortable.
“I think people have a public image of me that doesn’t match who I really am,” Portman said. “As a kid, I was very sexualized. That happens to a lot of young girls in movies. I was really scared by it. Sexuality is a normal part of growing up, but I wanted it to be something private—not something pushed onto me.”
To protect herself, Portman said she started acting very serious in public. “I tried to present myself as really smart and studious. I thought, if I show people that I’m intelligent, they won’t treat me the wrong way,” she explained. “It’s sad, but it worked. I created this image to protect myself, and people left me alone.”
In their chat, Jenna Ortega, who is 22 and also grew up acting, said she deeply relates to what Portman went through.
“Whenever someone says they were a child actor, I immediately understand what they mean,” Ortega said. “It’s heartwarming to connect over that, but it’s also really sad. Actresses from older generations had a much harder time.”
She added, “I’ve been lucky with how things are today. It’s better now, and I feel grateful.”
Portman also talked about how the types of roles she was offered early in her career were very limited. At one point, she was always cast as the “Lolita” type—a young girl with adult themes attached to her character. Later, she was often asked to play the woman who helps a man find his feelings.
In a past interview with People Magazine, Portman explained, “Even when I was just 13, I knew that if I expressed myself sexually, it would make me feel unsafe. Men would comment on my body, and that made me very uncomfortable.”
She added, “I felt like I had to cover myself up and hold back my personality, just to show the world that I deserved respect and safety.”
Even now, decades later, Portman still shows that same inner strength. The armor she built as a young girl has stayed with her. She now stars alongside Ortega in their new movie, The Gallerist, and continues to speak out about the struggles many young actors face growing up in Hollywood.
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