Real Reason Natalie Portman Wants Kids To Never Become Actors
The Academy and Golden Globe Award-winning actress Natalie Portman is one of the most versatile and critically acclaimed actresses in Hollywood. This Israeli-American actress started working at the age of twelve and saw massive success with Léon: The Professional (1994). At 42 years of age, she has accumulated over 30 years of industry experience. Her performances in movies like Closer, V for Vendetta, Black Swan, Jackie, and the Star Wars franchise made her the darling of the critics.
However, this success was not without its curse. Since Natalie Portman entered Hollywood at a very young age, she has been constantly s*xualized. She opened up about it time and time again, which is probably one of the reasons why she would not want her kids to become actors like her.
Why is Natalie Portman against kids acting?
During an interview with Variety, Portman was asked about her journey as a child actor and whether she would recommend it to others. She vehemently talked against it and said she does not believe that kids should work:
“I would not encourage young people to go into this. I don’t mean ever; I mean as children. I feel it was almost an accident of luck that I was not harmed, also combined with very overprotective, wonderful parents. You don’t like it when you’re a kid, and you’re grateful for it when you’re an adult. I’ve heard too many bad stories to think that any children should be part of it. Ultimately, I don’t believe that kids should work. I think kids should play and go to school.”
This is not the first time it has happened that a Hollywood child actor has been s*xualized in a problematic manner. From Drew Barrymore to the Fanning sisters to Millie Bobby Brown, many bore the cross, and they are speaking up about it now. Although what Portman says has lots of truth to it and is wise advice, many a time, the parents of the actors get blinded by the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, and the actors who are merely children suffer the consequences of their blindness.
Natalie Portman’s journey with being s*xualized in Hollywood
In an interview with Vulture, she termed the attention she got from older men when she was underage as “sexual terrorism.” A prominent feminist, she shared her horror story in the 2018 Women’s March, where she said that a local radio station started a countdown for her 18th birthday. This is extremely disturbing when one understands that this is being done because that is the age she would be legal to have s*x. She further went on to say:
“I excitedly opened my first fan mail to read a rape fantasy that a man had written me. Movie reviewers talked about my budding breasts in reviews.”
In an interview with IndieWire, she later described her role in Léon: The Professional as being comparable to that of a “Lolita figure.” She said she was even afraid of her sexuality at one point:
“[It] took away from my own sexuality because it made me afraid, and it made me [feel] like the way I could be safe was to be like, ‘I’m conservative,’ and ‘I’m serious and you should respect me,’ and ‘I’m smart,’ and ‘don’t look at me that way.'”
Natalie Portman even refuses to show her kids the Star Wars movies because she thinks they are too young and she does not want them to think of her as anything other than their mother. From her experience and her comments on Hollywood over the years, it is unlikely that she would want the same path for her children.
Natalie Portman was last seen in the American drama film May December which was directed by Todd Haynes.
