Pregnant Natalie Portman: No Longer Vegan

Celebrity Moms April 11, 2011 AT 8:34AM
Pregnant Natalie Portman: No Longer Vegan Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty

Natalie Portman is giving into her cravings.

The 29-year-old Your Highness star -- who is expecting her first child with fiance Benjamin Millepied later this summer -- is no longer a vegan.

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"I actually went back to being vegetarian when I became pregnant, just because I felt like I wanted that stuff," she said during a Monday phone interview with the Q100 Bert Show in Atlanta. "I was listening to my body to have eggs and dairy and that sort of stuff."

"I know there are people who do stay vegan," she added, "but I think you have to just be careful, watch your iron levels and your B12 levels and supplement those if there are things you might be low in in your diet."

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The Oscar-winning actress -- who became a vegan in 2009 after reading Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals -- doesn't regret her decision to become a vegetarian again.

"If you're not eating eggs, then you can't have cookies or cake from regular bakeries, which can become a problem when that's all you want to eat," she laughed. "I actually wanted eggs at the beginning and then they grossed me out after awhile."

VIDEO: Bravo star suggest baby names for Natalie

Food cravings aside, Portman added that she doesn't know the sex of her unborn child -- and she has no plans to find out any time soon, either.

"People can say a lot of things and they have a 50 percent chance of being right," she laughed. "I'm Jewish and I think in Judaism, there's a lot of superstition around not doing too much before the baby comes."

Tell Us What You Think

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  • April 16, 2011 - 7:49pm Terry â?? Harvey

    what is it with "its her body" such selfishness all of you. What about the bodies of the imprisoned and murdered non human animals, where is their choice, where is the choice of the mother cow to not have her baby taken away & murdered, just so you can have dairy... oh yeah, they dont get one... so unevolved...

  • April 12, 2011 - 9:13am Leslie Boyd

    Abigail Vegans are NOT "wackos" I could say the same about all meat eaters but that wouldn't make it true. It would just be my OPINION.

  • April 12, 2011 - 12:17am Kasey Lasse

    Who cares..just another Hollywood phony. She should be thinking marriage and creating a home for her baby.

  • April 11, 2011 - 11:15pm Edwina-Athena Veganette

    if this is true, it makes me really sad. Natalie Portman has been an amazing role model and voice. I recently read her Huffington Post article and find it hard to believe she has just decided to eat dairy and eggs. Her convictions seemed so strong and true. Sad.

  • April 11, 2011 - 7:02pm Julie Swegan-Gropp

    Everyone needs to take a step back and quit being so judgemental. What the hell is wrong with all of you? You do what you want with your body and she will do what she wants with her own.

  • April 11, 2011 - 6:26pm V Beth Lamb

    this selfish woman... she had a chance to make a difference in the lives of non human animals by being an excellent example and role model to other people; being in the limelight as she is...and she blew it. flat out blew it.

  • April 11, 2011 - 4:04pm Julianne Slayden

    @ Jade Ali - Having been raised Jewish myself, the superstition that you believe is just Portman's excuse for just being 'weird' does have some religious basis. For example, traditionally, in Judaism, it's considered bad luck to name a child after a living relative because the belief is that the angel of death - who apparently gets easily confused - may take the soul of the child rather than the older relative. Sounds odd, but it's a practice that still exists among many Jews.

  • April 11, 2011 - 2:36pm Fortune McLemore

    Robert, when was the last time YOU were pregnant? A male friend once told me he knew what a labor pain felt like. I said, "Do you have a uterus?" He said, "No." And I said, "Then you'll never really know what one feels like." Robert, maybe you should ask an expert about what pregnant women should eat: a woman who's BEEN pregnant.

  • April 11, 2011 - 1:31pm Kelli Best

    Who cares if she eats eggs or not? I don't think it makes her a bad person because she decided to drink a glass of milk instead of soy. I was a vegetarian before I got pregnant but I didn't feel I was getting enough protein so I decided to start eating white meat; hormone free, cage free, vegetarian fed white meat. Yes, I could have eaten more beans but I didnâ??t feel that was what my body wanted. Does that make me a bad person? I don't think so...

  • April 11, 2011 - 1:20pm Elda Reyes

    i was a vegan once too, i eat fish, chicken n turkey but i don't eat red meat, pork or lamb. i see myself skipping meat for days and don't realize it b/c i eat a lot of veggie receipes but u are soo right Julie!!

  • April 11, 2011 - 1:19pm Amanda Mader

    P.S. My uncle has a farm and raises horses, chickens, goats, etc. He also raised cows on free grazing land and went to a local slaughterer he trusted to be as ethical as possible. No hormones, grass and grain fed, and he did it the most humane way possible. Some people think that's impossible, to me, nobody loves animals more than he so I guess to each their own.

  • April 11, 2011 - 1:17pm Amanda Mader

    She came clean about not being vegan because she's been in the spotlight for being one. That's called being honest people. As for the cravings: Some women get them and sometimes they are a case of your body saying "I need more _____". Sometimes it's simply "I need a cookie" lol. That's not stupid or "in her head" - it just happens. Lastly, the whole vegan, vegetarian, omnivore argument is such a personal thing for some people. Eat what you want for your reasons and stop arguing which is better because both sides could argue valid points. If it works for you, AWESOME!!! I doubt I the omnivore could convince Captain Vegan to enjoy eating meat. Trust me, a vegan isn't convincing me to stop eating animal products. Eat what you want people.

  • April 11, 2011 - 1:15pm Cinnamon Everett

    @ Kim Worhsam Horton I agree. Unless you're a doctor--I have a real problem with men speaking on pregnancy (or women who have never been pregnant before). I had a huge craving for certaing veggies and nuts and fruits that I rarely ate before or after--I think for some women there are cravings--for others not--she can eat whatever the h*ll she wants...

  • April 11, 2011 - 12:59pm Elizabeth Aspen

    I tried to be vegan also for moral reasons but I was just diagnosed with diabetes so it's impossible.

  • April 11, 2011 - 12:43pm Kim Worsham Horton

    You're an idiot Robert. Spoken like a true stupid man. You've never been pregnant so shut up.

  • April 11, 2011 - 12:32pm Jason Seagraves

    Boo, Natalie! If a non-vegan diet is unhealthy, then the worst time to consume non-vegan foods would be when carrying a child. If a non-vegan diet is unethical, then it remains non-ethical even if you have "cravings."

  • April 11, 2011 - 12:04pm Jade Ali

    Superstitious? I don't think it's a "Jewish" thing at all. I have a few Jewish friends, some orthodox some not, and they are not at all like what Natalie Portman claims is her reason for just being weird. A lot of celebrities who become pregnant either are just happy to have a healthy baby regardless of the sex or just get super paranoid because they live in the limelight and fear something will happen to their unborn. I guess most celebrities just have no clue about babies and treat their unborn just like everything else in their over-hyped life: collateral. Eat your heart out Natalie.

  • April 11, 2011 - 12:01pm Judy Kanaszka

    she is a person that has put herself in the spotlight as champion of a vegan lifestyle...something I once admired her for and then she bags it for bakery cakes and cookie cravings i think that's really REALLY disappointing....

  • April 11, 2011 - 11:52am Cristina Hernandez

    Very simple. It's her body. She can eat what she wants.

  • April 11, 2011 - 11:17am Julie Eyrich

    ITS BEEN PROVEN THAT HUMANS THRIVE BETTER ON A PLANT-BASED DIET: The American Dietetic Association is the world' s largest organization of food and nutrition professionals has released an updated position paper on vegan diets that concludes such diets, if well-planned, are healthful and nutritious for adults, infants, children and adolescents and can help prevent and treat chronic diseases including heart disease, cancer, obesity and diabetes.

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