Natalie Portman shared a harrowing story with the crowd at the Woman’s March in Los Angeles on Saturday, remembering that her first ever fan letter at 13 years-old was a “rape fantasy.”
The Oscar winner spoke about the “great discomfort” she’s struggled with as a woman in Hollywood, dating back to when she was a teenager. After wrapping her first film role in “The Professional,” she soon realized the pitfalls of being a young woman in the spotlight.
“I excitedly opened my first fan mail to read a rape fantasy that a man had written me,” said Portman. She added a local radio station set up a countdown to her 18th birthday, and that movie reviewers were compelled to talk about her “budding breasts.”
“I understood very quickly, even as a 13-year-old, that if I were to express myself sexually, I would feel unsafe,” said Portman. “And that men would feel entitled to discuss and objectify my body, to my great discomfort.”
You can watch a two-minute clip of her speech below.
Natalie Portman's speech at #WomensMarch2018 pic.twitter.com/EQKasK1oec
— best of natalie portman (@badpostportman) January 20, 2018
Portman’s Instagram posted another clip, with her addressing critics of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements. “To these people, I want to say the current system is puritanical,” she said.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BeLyF75hHaD/?taken-by=nportmanofficial