A look at Natalie Portman's fresh start after Benjamin Millepied's affair
Natalie Portman is “still hurt” afterward. Benjamin Thousand-Peded's business, but We weekly insiders say she will get a fresh start in 2024.
“She didn't give up [her marriage] slightly,” a source exclusively reveals in the latest issue of Us. “But at the end of last year it became quite clear that her heart had been ripped out.”
A second insider notes that “Natalie and Ben actually started having issues over a year ago.” Millepied, 46, “sometimes didn't come home and took work trips that didn't add up,” the source says, adding that Portman, 42, “began to suspect infidelity.”
The May December actress “was humiliated and utterly crushed by Benjamin's behavior,” the second source claims, explaining that Portman is now “taking time to focus on himself.”
Natalie Portman, Benjamin Millepied
Unique Nicole(2)/FilmMagic(2)Us confirmed in August 2023 that Portman and Millepied split after 11 years of marriage. Their split came after rumors circulated in June 2023 that Millepied was having an affair with the 25-year-old climate activist. Camille Etienne.
While Portman initially stayed with her estranged husband, she seemingly alluded to the breakup earlier this month when she opened up The Wall Street Journal that she “lives in Paris with her two children,” but did not mention Millepied.
When Portman stepped out at the 2024 Governors Awards on Jan. 9, she seemed to be in a new relationship era. The actress was noticeably not wearing her wedding ring.
A beautiful love story. Natalie Portman and her husband, Benjamin Millepied, met in 2009 on the set of her film Black Swan. “I think I was in dreamland. So it was beautiful… it seemed pretty fun the whole time,” Portman said of getting to know her husband while making the psychological thriller during […]
Portman “looked the other way for a long time,” the second source said Us, recounting that the Oscar winner's friends “told her, 'You lose him how you get him,'” referencing how the estranged spouses first met. Millepied has reportedly left his live-in girlfriend, Isabella Boylstonto connect with Portman after they started working together on the 2010 set Black Swan.
“Benjamin is so charming and eloquent; he really enchants women. He has the power to attract people to him,” says the insider. That charm worked for Portman, who married the choreographer in 2012. The couple then welcomed son Aleph, 12, and daughter Amalia, 6.
Benjamin Millepied and Natalie Portman.
Unique Nicole/Getty imagesHowever, their relationship ended in August 2023, when “Natalie decided to leave him” and “moved out” within weeks, the second source shares. “Even though she's been living with the kids without him, he's still very much in their lives,” the insider says.
The Star Wars actress suspects that “Ben has been cheating on her for years,” the insider claims Usbut above all, Portman “wants to keep the peace for the sake of their family, so she behaves very politely.”
Natalie Portman has been romantically attached to several A-listers over the years. Portman briefly dated Jake Gyllenhaal in 2006, three years before they starred in the 2009 psychological drama Brothers. While she romanced Gael Garcia Bernal, Nathan Bogle and Devendra Banhart, Portman shut down claims from musician Moby's 2019. […]
After a difficult year, Portman is looking to the future, focusing on her work and staying close to her inner circle. “She's incredibly smart and philosophical about everything she does, but ultimately she's a realist who doesn't keep trying to save something that can't be fixed,” the first insider explains, adding that Portman “has given this marriage her best shot.”
Watch the exclusive video above for more details about Portman's fresh start after the end of her marriage – and download the latest issue of We weeklyon newsstands now.