Natalie Portman Is Officially Divorced

On Friday, Natalie Portman‘s very buzzed-about divorce from Benjamin Millepied was officially finalized and according to Us Weekly, the May December star is actually very OK with it!

“Benjamin would love to have Natalie back, but she’s not interested right now,” a source told the tabloid. “They’re being very civil toward each other for the kids.” We always appreciate a mature divorce dynamic but we go crazy for one that includes a woman who’s utterly uninterested in reconciliation–especially with a rumored philanderer.

In June, Page Six reported that the pair’s marriage was thrust into turmoil after Millepied allegedly had an affair with 25-year-old French climate activist, Camille Étienne. Apparently, Millepied had been spending an awful lot of time with Étienne in the spring of 2023, and not because he was concerned about carbon emissions. Voici, a French magazine, was the first to become privy to this and published photos of Millepied and Étienne entering his office separately on May 24 and then exiting ten minutes apart almost two hours later. Portman, the magazine claimed, had already found out.

“In early March, the star of the ‘Star Wars’ saga discovered that her husband was having an affair with a young woman,” the magazine wrote. By August, Us Weekly confirmed the couple’s separation after 11 years of marriage after she was spotted without her wedding ring.

“Natalie believes Benjamin’s affair was a brief and stupid liaison that means nothing to him,” a source told the magazine at the time, who also claimed Portman was “willing to see if she’s capable of rebuilding her trust” in Millepied to ensure that their kids don’t “grow up in a broken home.” People, too, reported that Millepied was “doing all he can to get Natalie to forgive him and keep their family together” and that Portman was hellbent on “protecting her children and their privacy.”

For a while, it was all silence and speculation, that is, until…last month, when Portman finally addressed the state of her marriage for the first time, telling Vanity Fair that seeing public fodder about her personal life has been a “terrible” experience she has “no desire to contribute to” further.

Now, her representative confirmed to People that Portman actually filed for divorce from Millepied eight months ago (July 2023), and according to friends, she’s really doing well.

“It was initially really tough for her, but her friends rallied around her and helped get her through the worst of it,” a friend told the magazine. “Natalie is coming out of a really tough and painful year but she’s come out the other side of it stronger and is finding joy in her family, friends and work.”

We write this a lot at Jezebel, but it must be emphasized: Good for her!

• Gisele Bundchen on the current state of her heart in her first televised interview post-divorce: “Where my heart is now is where I am right now.” Cool! [Us Weekly]
• I’d just like Austin Butler to take a vacation. [The Hollywood Reporter]
• Apparently, Erika Jayne is now “having fun” with a personal trainer. I applaud her commitment to being a cliché. [Page Six]
• When asked about Timothee Chalamet and whether or not he’s influenced her style in a new New York Times profile, Kylie Jenner quite suddenly doesn’t want to talk about her personal life. [Daily Mail]
• Pierce Brosnan thinks Cillian Murphy should be the new Bond and I agree! [Variety]