On a recent episode of the “Smartless” podcast, Natalie Portman revealed that Jodie Foster reached out to her when the latter came to know that Portman was sexualised as a young actor. Foster’s career skyrocketed at 12 after being cast in Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” as a child sex worker.
As for Portman, she was 11 years old when she was cast in “Léon: The Professional,” serving as her own acting breakthrough.
“I did a speech at a Women’s March about being sexualized as a young actress, and she reached out to me after that, and we talked and it was amazing,” Portman said.
“She’s still a role model.”
Portman went on to say how she learned to put up a tough exterior on film sets to avoid being sexualized by potential predators.
“That kind of projection of seriousness protected me in a way,” she said. “‘Cause I feel like it was almost a warning signal like, ‘Oh, don’t do shit to her.’ Not that anyone ever, you know, deserves it or is asking for it. But I felt like that was my unconscious way of doing it.”
Portman said that her mother was with her all the time, making sure no one came near her. “When I went to college, my dad was like, ‘Okay, that was cute. Time to move on. Let’s find another job — a real job.’ ”
She studied psychology at Harvard University but never left acting fully behind.
The “Black Swan” Oscar winner opened up last year about her breakthrough role in “The Professional” amid sexual assault allegations against director Luc Besson.
“It’s a movie that’s still beloved, and people come up to me about it more than almost anything I’ve ever made,” Portman told THR.
“And it gave me my career, but it is definitely, when you watch it now, it definitely has some cringey, to say the least, aspects to it. So, yes, it’s complicated for me.”
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