Natalie Portman Was ‘Afraid’ As Child Actress Because She Was Sexualised

Natalie Portman has opened up about growing up as a child actress as the time she was sexualised in roles.

The 39-year-old Black Swan actress was talking on Dax Shepard‘s Armchair Expert podcast about the pressures a young Portman experienced from her peers.

She explained, “I was definitely aware of the fact that I was being portrayed … as this ‘Lolita’ figure. Being sexualised as a child, I think took away from my own sexuality because it made me afraid and it made me 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,’”

Continuing to divulge into her childhood acting experiences, she continued, “Whereas at that age, you do have your own sexuality and you do have your own desire, and you do want to explore things and you do want to be open. But you don’t feel safe, necessarily, when there’s older men that are interested, and you’re like, ‘No, no, no, no.’

So many people had this impression of me that I was super serious and conservative … and I realised consciously cultivated that because it was always to make me feel safe, Like, ‘Oh, if someone respects you, they’re not gonna objectify you.’ – when I was in my teens I was like, ‘I don’t wanna have any love scenes or make-out scenes.’ I would start choosing parts that were less sexy because it made me worried about the way I was perceived and how safe I felt.’”

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