Matters of the heart. Natalie Portman was private about her romantic life prior to her 2012 nuptials to husband Benjamin Millepied.
The Black Swan star didn’t create an Instagram account until 2018. Two years prior, she explained during an August 2016 interview with Business Insider why she had reservations about sharing her personal life on social media.
“For those of us who were living when it didn’t exist, it feels like the last thing you want to do. It’s so much unwanted interest in your privacy that you don’t want to invite anymore,” she explained. “And you see the amount of bullying and negativity that goes on that is really, really intense, and I feel lucky that I came of age before all of that came on.”
More recently, Portman has shared glimpses into her relationship with Millepied, with whom she shares son Aleph, born in 2011, and daughter Amalia, born in 2017.
“Ten years today @benjaminmillepied, and it keeps getting better …,” she captioned an August 2022 Instagram throwback snap of the couple smiling and walking hand in hand.
Before she exchanged vows with the French choreographer, the Oscar winner expressed doubts about matrimony. “I’m not convinced about marriage,” she told InStyle for their December 2007 issue, noting that “divorce is so easy” when “committing yourself to one person” should be a “sacred” decision. The Israel-born actress added that her ideal partner would be “someone who pulls me up to high standards and who is aware of what’s going on in themselves and in the world.”
Although Portman kept her love life hush-hush prior to tying the knot, her past flames include Jake Gyllenhaal, fashion designer Nathan Bogle and musician Devendra Banhart. The Closer actress began dating Banhart in 2008, starring in his music video for “Carmensita” that same year.
In November 2009, one year after the pair called it quits, the “Golden Girls” musician told Vulture that he was still on “very good terms” with Portman. “She’s one of my best friends. I love her super-much. Super-much,” he said at the time.
Gyllenhaal, meanwhile, was spotted out on a date with the Harvard graduate in New York City in 2006. The Donnie Darko actor poked fun at his time with Portman while presenting her with a Desert Palm Achievement Award for her role in Black Swan in January 2011. While addressing his Brothers costar’s vegan diet, Gyllenhaal said, “It does get hard when you’re out to dinner with her.”
While Portman herself has rarely commented on past relationships, in May 2019, she shut down Moby’s claims that they dated in the late 1990s.
“I was surprised to hear that he characterized the very short time that I knew him as dating because my recollection is a much older man being creepy with me when I just had graduated high school,” she told Harper’s Bazaar at the time, referencing the musician’s claims in his memoir, Then It Fell Apart. “He said I was 20; I definitely wasn’t. I was a teenager. I had just turned 18.”
Moby, for his part, responded to the Thor actress’ claims via Instagram, insisting that the pair did date.
“I completely respect Natalie’s possible regret in dating me (to be fair, I would probably regret dating me, too). But it doesn’t alter the actual facts of our brief romantic history,” he claimed via Instagram at the time.
Keep scrolling for a look at Portman’s dating history over the years:
