Natalie Portman has the power.
The “Annihilation” actress was an honoured guest at Variety‘s Power of Women event on Friday. Portman also served as a keynote speaker, shouting out Time’s Up CEO and president, Lisa Borders, before engaging the audience.
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“If any group you are part of only has people that look like you, change that group,” she implored. “Listen, ‘be embarrassed if everyone in your workplace looks like you.”
“Stop the rhetoric that a woman is crazy or difficult,” Portman advised. “Gossip well. If a man says a woman is crazy or difficult, ask him, ‘What bad thing did you do to her?’ That’s a code word. He is trying to discredit her reputation.”
Portman’s words were not only for women, but they were also for men. “Many men are behaving like we live in a zero-sum game,” she said. “That if women get the respect, access and value we deserve, they will lose.”
“But we know the message of the mammaries: The more milk you give, the more milk you make,” Portman explained. “The more love you give, the more love you have. And the same can be said of fire. When you light someone else’s torch with your own, you don’t lose your fire, you just make more light and more heat.”
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“Light a woman’s torch,” she concluded. “The light will multiply and the heat will intensify for all of us.”
Portman also stepped out for the luncheon on Friday with Thandie Newton, Tiffany Haddish, Alyssa Milano and more.
