Natalie Portman has denied musician Moby's claim they dated 20 years ago, saying he was just “a much older man being creepy with me.”
In his new book, Moby, whose real name is Richard Melville Hall, claimed that Ms Portman, who is 16 years younger than him, “flirted” with him backstage after one of his shows, and that he had then “tried to be Natalie’s boyfriend” but that it had “not worked out”.
In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar magazine, the actress said she was “surprised to hear that he characterised the very short time that I knew him as dating because my recollection is a much older man being creepy with me”.
In the book Moby, said the Hollywood star was 20 at the time but she said: “I had just graduated high school…I had just turned 18.”
Moby described how he was "a bald binge drinker and Natalie Portman was a beautiful movie star. But here she was in my dressing room, flirting with me.”
But the star of films including Black Swan and V for Vendetta said: “I was a fan and went to one of his shows when I had just graduated...
“When we met after the show, he said, ‘let’s be friends.’ He was on tour and I was working, shooting a film, so we only hung out a handful of times before I realised that this was an older man who was interested in me in a way that felt inappropriate.”
She described it as “very disturbing” that the musician had “used this story to sell his book”, which contained “many factual errors and inventions.”
In the Harper’s interview, Ms Portman went on to talk about the Time’s Up movement, where women have come forward with allegations of inappropriate behaviour from some of the most powerful men in the film industry, including Harvey Weinstein.
“Whatever happens in the court with Harvey Weinstein…the spoken truth and courage of women coming forward has the ability to change hearts and minds about what a person is capable of and how to protect others from him, and stop him from being able to flourish”, she said.
Moby responded, writing on Instragram: "We did, in fact, date.
"And after briefly dating in 1999 we remained friends for years. I like Natalie, and I respect her intelligence and activism.
"But, to be honest, I can’t figure out why she would actively misrepresent the truth about our (albeit brief) involvement."
