E-Paper
Natalie Portman says being sexualised as a child actor has changed her
Natalie Portman has said that being sexualised as a child actor made her feel the ‘need to cover my body and to inhibit my expression and my work’.
Being famous comes with its own hazards. After spending about 25 years in the show business, Hollywood actor Natalie Portman on Tuesday said that being sexualised as a child star made her feel unsafe.
The 37-year-old actor, who made her debut at the age of 13 in 1994's The Professional, at the Women's March last January, revealed that her first ever fan mail was a rape fantasy written by a man.
Reflecting on it further, Portman said, "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."
She added that she felt like she has to cover herself up to ensure that she is respected by others, "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," she added.
However, this was when she was just a teenager. Today the actor says she has come to terms with the situation. "I know I was sexualized in the ways that I was photographed or portrayed, and that was not my doing. That becomes a part of your public identity," People quotes Portman as saying.
The Academy Award winner, whose past credits include Annihilation and Black Swan will be next seen opposite Jude Law in Vox Lux.
The film tells the story of a pop star (played by Portman) who survived a school shooting as a young girl and is still dealing with the aftermath of the horrifying incident.
"She is such a wild character, but she's also someone I felt was a real person, who is the product of this life that has happened to her," Portman said about her character in the movie.
Follow @htshowbiz for more
