A beautiful love story. Natalie Portman and her husband, Benjamin Millepied, met on the set of her film Black Swan in 2009.
“I think I was in, like, dreamland. So, it was pretty … it seemed pretty fun the whole time,” Portman said of getting to know her husband while making the psychological thriller during a June 2018 interview on “Sirius XM Town Hall.”
The Star Wars actress added that she wasn’t sure if she had an “instant” connection with the French dancer, who was a choreographer on Black Swan. “It was, like, I really got to know him and then that is when it seemed, ‘Oh, right, this is the person,’” she shared.
In February 2011, Portman won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in the Darren Aronofsky film. By then, she and Millepied were engaged and expecting their first child together. The V for Vendetta actress thanked her then-fiancé during her acceptance speech.
“To my beautiful love, Benjamin Millepied, who choreographed the film and has now given me my most important role of my life,” she said, gesturing to her stomach.
The couple welcomed their son, Aleph, in June 2011. The following July, Portman told France’s Madame Figaro that family was her priority. “Nothing is more important than my personal life,” she said at the time. “It’s something which comes first, always makes sense, and compared to the happiness of a successful family life, everything else is practically superficial.”
In August 2012, Portman and Millepied had an intimate wedding near Big Sur in California after announcing their engagement in late 2010. Their daughter, Amalia, was born in 2017.
“I’m less judgmental than before I had a kid. The biggest thing I’ve learnt is that parenting is a totally different experience for every single person,” the Garden State actress told The Telegraph in 2013. “Everything is cool, there are no rules — I mean, apart from not hurting your kid. Some people breastfeed until their babies are five, and some don’t breastfeed at all. There are no rules about what it means to be a feminist, or a good mother. For some, it’s going to be right to go back to work, for others it’s going to be right to stop working completely.”
Aside from raising children together, Millepied and Portman got another chance to work alongside one another professionally on the 2018 film Vox Lux. The Thor: Love and Thunder actress played fictional pop star Celeste Montgomery and her husband choreographed her dance scenes.
The former New York City Ballet principal dancer has also gushed about his wife’s advocacy; Portman is a vocal advocate for animal rights and a supporter of anti-poverty causes.
“Her work has been an inspiration. You know, she’s been so driven, you know, in this last year to make the world a better place,” he told Us Weekly in October 2018. “I think it’s inspiring. We talk what about [and] how you make a difference … for me, it’s about making a difference at home. It’s creating, you know, helping create that community, a sense of community.”
Scroll through for a look at Portman and Millepied’s love story over the years:
