Natalie Portman shuts down speculation about her marriage amid separation
Natalie Portman has no interest in entertaining speculation about her reportedly rocky marriage to husband Benjamin Millepied following his alleged affair with a younger woman last year.
When asked about the media’s recent musings on her personal life in a profile for Vanity Fair’s Annual Hollywood Issue, the Academy Award winner, 42, quickly shut it down, calling the chatter “terrible” and saying she has “no desire to contribute to it.”
Portman and the French ballet dancer, 46, met when he was working as a choreographer on 2010’s Oscar-winning film “Black Swan.” News broke by the end of that year that the couple were engaged and expecting son Aleph, who they welcomed in 2011. They wed in 2012 and expanded their family in 2017 with the arrival of their daughter, Amalia.
But reports of trouble in paradise surfaced last summer when multiple outlets claimed Millepied stepped out on the actress in early 2023 with a 25-year-old woman.
“It was short-lived and it is over,” a source told People of the affair.
An insider added that the pair were trying to work through what Millepied knew had been “an enormous mistake.”
“He is doing all he can to get Natalie to forgive him and keep their family together,” the source told the outlet in June. “Natalie is incredibly private and has no intention of playing this out in the media. Her biggest priority is protecting her children and their privacy.”
But by August, Portman was spotted on the couple’s anniversary without her wedding ring, and within days it was reported that the two had separated.
Later that month, British tabloids published photos of Portman and Millepied together with Aleph at the Women’s World Cup final.