Natalie Portman still feels like people 'treat her like a child' on set

Wales Online

29-05-2025

Natalie Portman still feels like people 'treat her like a child' on set
The 43-year-old actress - who rose to fame as a child in 1999's 'Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace' - insisted that despite growing up in the spotlight and developing a "serious persona" to combat people's perceptions of her, she is still fighting against it
(Image: Getty Images )
Natalie Portman thinks people still "treat her like a child".
The 43-year-old actress - who rose to fame as a child in 1999's 'Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace' - insisted that despite growing up in the spotlight and developing a "serious persona" to combat people's perceptions of her, she is still fighting against it.
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During a conversation about Jenna Ortega, Natalie told Harper's Bazaar magazine: "We're both physically tiny, so people will often treat you like a child forever.
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"I'm 43 now, and people kind of pat me on the head. I don't look like a child, but I often feel like I'm treated like a kid.
"Child actors often cultivate a serious persona because otherwise they'll get treated like kids forever.
"When you start working as a kid, you kind of always feel like a kid in the workplace. Having some of that seriousness helps remind people, 'I'm a grown-up.' "
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Natalie and Jenna have worked together in new comedy thriller 'The Gallerist', and the 'Fountain of Youth' actress noticed they have a similar process in between takes.
She explained: "We don't sit in a chair; we just kind of squat in the corner.
"Catherine Zeta-Jones, who was also a child actress, said she did it too - that it's a way of grounding yourself.
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"There'd be all these chairs, but we'd just squat and look at each other and be like, 'Wow, this is weird.' "
Meanwhile, Jenna opened up on how much it's helped her becoming friends with the likes of Natalie, Winona Ryder and Natasha Lyonne, who all understand the journey she's on.
She said: "It's been so beneficial and so cozy. They've seen it all, and, honestly, during a much darker time in Hollywood.
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"We've all got this jaded way about us that I don't think we'd have if we hadn't started so young and had so many brutal realisations and experiences...
"But they turned out all right."