Natalie Portman recalls her ‘long Lolita phase’ while being sexualized as a child star

Natalie Portman admitted she hid different parts of her characteristic to protect herself aft being sexualized arsenic a young actress.

The “Black Swan” star, 43, bonded pinch Jenna Ortega complete their experiences increasing up successful Hollywood successful a speech published by Interview magazine Wednesday.

Portman, who landed her first large domiciled successful “Léon: The Professional” astatine 12, noted that being a kid character is “a very unusual, unsocial acquisition that not a batch of group share.”

She learned early connected that she needed to put up walls arsenic a measurement of shielding herself from unwanted and inappropriate attention.

“I deliberation there’s a nationalist knowing of maine that’s different from who I am. I’ve talked astir it a small earlier — astir how, arsenic a kid, I was really sexualized, which I deliberation happens to a batch of young girls who are onscreen. I felt very frightened by it. Obviously sexuality is simply a immense portion of being a kid, but I wanted it to beryllium wrong of me, not directed towards me,” Portman said.

“And I felt for illustration my measurement of protecting myself was to beryllium like, ‘I’m truthful serious. I’m truthful studious. I’m smart, and that’s not nan benignant of woman you attack,'” she explained. “I was like, if I create this image of myself, I’ll beryllium near alone.”

Although it “shouldn’t” person been a point she moreover had to deliberation about, Portman admitted that “it worked.”

However, it besides skewed nan measurement group viewed her arsenic she sewage older.

“But I deliberation that’s nan disconnect betwixt maine being stupid and silly successful existent life, and group reasoning that I’m immoderate really superior bookish person,” she continued, noting that she is “not a peculiarly backstage personification successful existent life.”

“But successful public, it was truthful clear early connected that if you show group really backstage you are, your privateness gets respected a batch more,” she added.

Portman noted that nan manufacture has changed a spot since she was a tween, pinch much and much women moving down nan scenes.

“It’s still truthful mostly male, but nan speech astir [gender equality] has decidedly helped a lot. I consciousness for illustration hairsbreadth and constitution was ever nan female space. It’s rather stereotypical, but it’s true,” she said.

“So location was ever this pouch connected group where, arsenic a kid, I felt safe and surrounded by women, and arsenic I’ve gotten older, it’s only go much and much important for maine to activity pinch women.”

However, Portman noted that location is still room for improvement, pointing to nan different types of roles she has been offered during each shape of her career.

“There are decidedly tropes, and I deliberation astatine each shape successful my career, location was a different 1 that I was like, ‘Oh, I’ve sewage to debar this,'” she explained.

“Obviously location was a agelong Lolita phase,” she continued, referencing nan infamous 1950s caller astir an older man’s obsession pinch a young woman.

After that period, Portman said she was successful a “long ‘chick who helps nan feline recognize his affectional thing’ shape for astir a decade.”

Currently, nan “May December” prima has recovered herself being approached for roles astir troubled mothers.

“So yeah, there’s a batch of nan aforesaid tropes, but those are ever adjuvant for pinpointing erstwhile thing really typical comes through,” she said. “It really stands retired erstwhile you get thing analyzable and beautiful and original.”

Portman has opened up astir navigating her early years successful nan nationalist oculus successful nan past, antecedently revealing that nan first-ever portion of instrumentality message she received was “a rape fantasy” written by a grown man. She was 13.

During her 2018 reside astatine nan Women’s March successful Los Angeles, Portman recalled movie reviewers mentioning her “budding breasts” successful reviews.

She besides reflected connected nan creepy countdown created by a section power show starring up to her 18th birthday, “the day that [she] would beryllium ineligible to slumber with.”

“I understood very quickly, moreover arsenic a 13-year-old, that if I were to definitive myself sexually, I would consciousness unsafe and that men would consciousness entitled to talk and objectify my assemblage to my awesome discomfort,” she told nan crowd.

“I felt nan request to screen my assemblage and to inhibit my look and my activity successful bid to nonstop my ain connection to nan world that I’m personification worthy of information and respect.”

Around nan aforesaid time, Portman told People that she had travel to position pinch nan truth that nary of it was her fault.

“I cognize I was sexualized successful nan ways that I was photographed aliases portrayed, and that was not my doing,” she said.