Natalie Portman On Being Sexualized As A Child Star: ‘I Felt The Need To Cover My Body’

By Corey Atad. Published: 25 Dec 2018 10:08 AM

Photo: James Devaney/GC Images

Being a child star around older men was a very difficult thing for Natalie Portman to negotiate.

The “Vox Lux” star opened up to People about how she approached her sexuality coming up in Hollywood and making her film debut in 1994’s “The Professional”.

“I understood very quickly, even as a 13-year-old, that if I were to express myself sexually I would feel unsafe and that men would feel entitled to discuss and objectify my body to my great discomfort,” Portman said. “I felt the need to cover my body and to inhibit my expression and my work in order to send my own message to the world that I’m someone worth of safety and respect.”

After 25 years in the film industry, Portman has come to terms with the fact that she could not control her image.

“I know I was sexualized in the ways that I was photographed or portrayed, and that was not my doing,” she explained. “That becomes a part of your public identity.”

Portman added, “It’s complicated to have your own private development and maturation alongside that [pressure] as a person, kind of having these double identities. And I think that it’s a big conversation about how many different kinds of things girls and women can be.”