Natalie Portman in Marie Claire UK.
On being labelled an “intellectual actress”:
“I’m not the hard, brainy girl at all. I’m really mushy. I’m much more mush, I think, than anything else!”
On her childhood:
“I was a spoiled, only child in a Jewish family. Very outgoing. But we didn’t have any money as my dad was still training to be a doctor while I was growing up. He was training until he was 40, so throughout my childhood it wasn’t like we were poor, but there wasn’t any luxurious spending.”
On growing up in the public eye:
“I was one of those kids that wanted to be older, act older, talk older, which I now think is a complete shame. I try to make up for that now by being outdoors more, playing, being silly and not being afraid of that. I don’t feel that I missed out on normal life per se. I’ve had real life experiences.”
On turning vegan:
“I was around Tobey Maguire in rehearsals and he’s vegan and I was, like, this is nice. I’m honest about caring about animals. I haven’t been very healthy – eating a lot of fried foods, pizzas, so it’s good to detox – no caffeine or alcohol.”
On how her views have been defined by her dual nationality (she has both an Israeli and a US passport):
“I definitely think it makes you more aware of the importance of politics, even though I’ve become a little cynical. Politics seem to be corrupt everywhere. Here [in the US] in particular.”
On her perspective on being an actress and a celebrity:
“You get used to seeing yourself or reading about yourself in the paper and you can get really detached from yourself. Which is scary. How you can be like, “oh, that’s the image of me, but this is the real me.” But, of course, the image is part of who you really are.”
