Natalie Portman started her acting career as a preteen, but she doesn’t want her own kids — or any others — to follow in her footsteps.
“I would not encourage young people to go into this,” Portman, 42, said in a recent interview with Variety. “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.”
Portman made her film debut at age 12 in 1994’s Léon: The Professional and later appeared in Heat, Everyone Says I Love You and Mars Attacks! When she filmed her breakout role as Padmé Amidala in 1999’s Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, she was only 16.
While Portman successfully transitioned from child stardom to an Oscar-winning career as an adult, she’s not convinced that kids should be working at all, in Hollywood or elsewhere.
“I’ve heard too many bad stories to think that any children should be part of it,” she said. “Having said that, I know all the conversations that we’ve been having these past few years. It’s made people more aware and careful. But ultimately, I don’t believe that kids should work. I think kids should play and go to school.”
Portman, who became a mom in 2011, has always kept her kids out of the spotlight. The May December actress shares son Aleph, 12, and daughter Amalia, 6, with estranged husband Benjamin Millepied. Portman and Millepied, 46, met in 2009 while working on Black Swan and tied the knot in August 2012.
Us Weekly confirmed in August that Portman and Millepied separated after 11 years of marriage, two months after rumors swirled that Millepied had an affair with climate activist Camille Étienne.
“After news of his affair came out, they’ve been trying to work on their marriage but are currently on the outs,” an insider exclusively told Us at the time.
That same month, Portman was spotted without her wedding ring while attending an event in Australia that coincided with her and Millepied’s 11th anniversary.
One month later, a source told Us that the estranged couple were coparenting but had not gotten back together. “Ben is still wanting a reconciliation, but Natalie is still skeptical,” the insider added. “While she hasn’t ruled it out, it’s not something she wants at the moment.”
