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Natalie Portman told Jenna Ortega during a discussion for Interview magazine that she endured a “long Lolita phase” as a child actor, referring to how the industry sexualized her at a young age. She was just 12 years old when she filmed her breakthrough role in “Leon: The Professional.” The “Black Swan” Oscar winner has long been outspoken about Hollywood’s sexualization of child stars.
“I think there’s a public understanding of me that’s different from who I am,” Portman told Ortega, with whom she starts with in the upcoming movie “The Gallerist.” “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. Obviously sexuality is a huge part of being a kid, but I wanted it to be inside of me, not directed towards me.”
Portman said she’s spent her entire career being put into the “tropes” the industry likes to assign female actors, adding: “I think at each phase in my career, there was a different one that I was like, ‘Oh, I’ve got to avoid this.’ 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.”
Portman revealed on an episode of the “Smartless” podcast last year that she learned at a young age to project a tough exterior on film sets to avoid sexualization by potential predators in the industry.
“That kind of projection of seriousness protected me in a way,” she said. “‘Cause I feel like it was almost a warning signal like, ‘Oh, don’t do shit to her.’ Not that anyone ever, you know, deserves it or is asking for it. But I felt like that was my unconscious way of doing it.”
Portman added that her mom “was with me all the time and made sure that no one got near me” while working as a child actor. Then, “When I went to college, my dad was like, ‘Okay, that was cute. Time to move on. Let’s find another job — a real job.’ ” She studied psychology at Harvard University but never left acting fully behind.
Next up for Portman is a starring role opposite John Krasinski in Guy Ritchie’s Apple TV+ adventure movie “Fountain of Youth,” streaming May 23.
