Natalie Portman & Jodie Foster’s Empowering Conversation on Child Actor Sexualization: No matter which profession a woman belongs to, her safety is often put into question. While many women refrain from talking about the abuse they suffer from, some prefer being vocal about it and motivating others to speak up for themselves. Actress Natalie Portman is one such figure from the film industry who has not shied away from talking about the experience that made her uncomfortable in her own profession. She indeed made optimum use of her platform to be heard and inspire many like her.
During such time, the actress claimed that she felt grateful when her role model, Jodie Foster, approached her.
Jodie Foster reached out to Natalie Portman after hearing she was sexualized as a young actress
What makes humans more human is the way they empathize with each other. Recently, during an episode of “Smartless” podcast, Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman revealed that Jodie Foster once reached out to her after she heard Portman giving a speech about being sexualized as a young actor. Like Portman, Foster also started her acting career as a child actor. When she heard Portman’s speech, which she gave in 2018 at the Women’s March in Los Angeles, Foster contacted her and talked to her, which made Natalie feel “amazing.” The “Black Swan” actress recalled during the podcast, “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. She’s still a role model.”
In 1994, Portman made her acting debut at the age of 12 with “Léon: The Professional.”
During her speech, the actress revealed that she experienced sexual harassment at the age of 13. As a child actress, Portman indeed gave a promising performance that was well acclaimed by the audience. While she was praised for her role, she also received some vile messages which disturbed her badly. The actress shared that her first-ever piece of fan mail was a rape fantasy written by a man.
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Though she didn’t step away from her career right away, she created a shield over her to protect herself. “I understood very quickly, even as a 13-year-old, that if I were to express myself sexually, I would feel unsafe and that men would feel entitled to discuss and objectify my body to my great discomfort,” she said.
At a very young age, Portman decided that to protect herself from potential predators, she had to project a tough exterior on film sets. She said, “That kind of projection of seriousness protected me in a way. 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 shared that after she opened up about the incident to her parents, their reaction was widely different. While her mother supported and ensured that she was always around her daughter, her father became protective after the incident and suggested Portman leave the acting career. Portman stated, “My mom was with me all the time and made sure that no one got near me.” Meanwhile, “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.’ ”
Though she agreed with her father, respected his decision, and studied psychology at Harvard University, she never left acting fully behind. Indeed, it was Portman’s resilience and bravery that she stood up for herself and decided not to live with the threat and fight against it. She followed her passion, and now she is known as one of the best actresses in the film industry.
