Natalie Portman Reflects on Being Sexualized as a Child Star: “I Felt Very Scared by It”

Natalie Portman is done tiptoeing around the truth. In a raw and deeply personal conversation with Jenna Ortega, Portman spoke openly about the weight she carried as a child actor — not just the pressure of early fame, but the unsettling way the industry sexualized her before she even reached her teenage years.

At just 12 years old, Portman starred in Léon: The Professional, a role that catapulted her to stardom — and, without warning, into the spotlight of adult male fantasy. “I was really sexualized, which I think happens to a lot of young girls who are onscreen,” she said. “I felt very scared by it.” There was no playbook for what she was experiencing. Just a young girl trying to navigate growing up while the world projected its desires onto her.

She called it her “long Lolita phase” — years of being slotted into roles that leaned into discomfort, written by adults who didn’t care that she was still a child. Hollywood didn’t ask how she felt. It just kept casting her, labeling her, packaging her. And so she built a shield. A wall. She learned how to project seriousness, toughness, unapproachability — anything to protect herself from predators masked as professionals. “It was almost a warning signal,” she said. “‘Don’t do shit to her.’”

Portman’s mother was by her side constantly, guarding her as best she could. And when she later left to study at Harvard, her father tried to pull her into a different life altogether. But acting wasn’t something she could just walk away from. Even with the trauma. Even with the baggage. “At each phase in my career, there was a different trope I had to avoid,” she explained. “There was the long Lolita phase… then there was the chick who helps the guy realize his emotional thing. For about a decade.”

She’s been quietly carrying this history while building one of the most respected acting careers of her generation. And now, she’s choosing to speak — not for headlines, but for the girls coming after her. The ones just entering the industry, not knowing how much of themselves they’ll have to guard.

Natalie Portman’s truth isn’t tied to just her talent — it’s in her survival. And finally, she’s done whispering about it.