{"id":46984,"date":"2026-08-15T17:01:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T12:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=46984"},"modified":"2026-08-15T17:01:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T12:01:30","slug":"inside-the-literary-scandal-surrounding-natalie-portman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=46984","title":{"rendered":"Inside the literary scandal surrounding Natalie Portman"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F08%2Fnewspress-collage-c01e2tdxh-1786750320127.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/Natalie Portman\">Natalie Portman<\/a> has many close friends in her adopted hometown of Paris \u2014 but the acclaimed writer Rachel Cusk is not one of them, sources insist to Page Six.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, the two women are in the middle of a literary scandal<strong> <\/strong>that has insiders buzzing from Hollywood to France.<\/p>\n<p>Cusk\u2019s novel, \u201c<a data-aps-asc-tag=\"pagesix-20\" data-aps-asin=\"0374618380\" data-wrapped-template=\"https:\/\/r.pagesixlink.com?btn_ref=org-282f0dd399864b44&amp;btn_url\" href=\"https:\/\/r.pagesixlink.com?btn_ref=org-282f0dd399864b44&amp;btn_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fdp%2F0374618380%3Flv%3Dshuf%26channelId%3D500%26plpRedirect%3DmhFallback%26tag%3Dpagesix-20%26asc_refurl%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fpagesix.com%2F2026%2F08%2F15%2Fentertainment%2Finside-the-literary-scandal-surrounding-natalie-portman%2F%26asc_source%3Dweb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-nyp-affiliate=\"true\">Life of M<\/a>,\u201d out August 25, details a writer\u2019s relationship with a former child star living in Paris as she attempts to write her autobiography.<strong> <\/strong>The former child star sure seems like Portman\u2019s doppelg\u00e4nger \u2014 from her failed marriage to her intense Method preparation for the movie \u201cBlack Swan\u201d \u2014 and it\u2019s not the most flattering portrait.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Natalie Portman has found herself at the center of a literary controversy \u2014 with buzz that she is the alleged inspiration for author Rachel Cusk\u2019s new novel, \u201cLife of M.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">Best Image \/ BACKGRID<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Pages Six told that despite incorrect rumors Portman, 45, <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/04\/17\/parents\/natalie-portman-is-pregnant-with-baby-no-3-her-first-with-partner-tanguy-destable\/\">who is expecting her third child and first baby<\/a> with her partner, French musician Tanguy Destable, is furious about the project, she does find the book \u201cannoying.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Seen by Page Six, \u201cLife of M\u201d is a thin, 100-page book that unpicks the concept of fame \u2014 and you certainly can see the parallels between the Oscar winner and the character M.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cThe writer and the publisher are narrowly skating the line of not trying to hide who they make it out to be, even if they don\u2019t comment on it,\u201d said a top publishing source familiar with the situation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Portman found fame acting at age 12 in the 1994 film \u201cL\u00e9on: The Professional\u201d \u2014\u00a0a role that has been criticized as uncomfortably sexualized. Cusk\u2019s character M was also a child actor and tells the narrator \u201cthat starring in a film had immediately brought her childhood to an end.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In April, Portman told Jenna Ortega, while in discussion for \u201cInterview\u201d magazine, that she had endured a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2025\/04\/16\/entertainment\/natalie-portman-recalls-her-long-lolita-phase-while-being-sexualized-as-a-child-star\/\">long Lolita phase<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Portman (top) called Cusk \u201cone of my favorite writers\u201d when she invited her on her Instagram book club in September 2021. <span class=\"credit\">natalieportman.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a public understanding of me that\u2019s different from who I am,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve talked about it a little before \u2014 about how, as a kid, I was really sexualized, which I think happens to a lot of young girls who are onscreen. I felt very scared by it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the time \u201cL\u00e9on\u201d was made, Portman\u2019s mother, Shelley Stevens, stepped in to ensure that certain scenes involving her daughter and her co-star, Jean Reno, who was 44 at the time of filming, were removed from the final movie. A similar situation also happens to M in the book.<\/p>\n<p>For her role as a ballet dancer in \u201cBlack Swan,\u201d which won her an Academy Award in 2011, Portman underwent a grueling year of training with the New York City Ballet.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>M, too, starred in a film about ballet \u2014 for which she trained with \u201cstarved and chain-smoking ballerinas.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Portman is expecting her third child \u2014 and first with boyfriend Tanguy Destable. The pair were seen in Paris earlier this month. <span class=\"credit\">Nassou.fr \/ BACKGRID<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Portman is in one of the happiest moments of her life, a source told Page Six. <span class=\"credit\">Nassou.fr \/ BACKGRID<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cHer body began to mimic theirs,\u201d Cusk writes. \u201cShe became obsessive about her attempts to master certain postures and sequences.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cusk\u2019s character undergoes romantic turmoil. \u201cEven love,\u201d she writes of M, \u201chas failed to grip her entirely, or perhaps especially love, because it is there that she has felt most distinctly the impossibility of total sincerity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Portman divorced her husband,<a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2024\/03\/08\/entertainment\/natalie-portman-benjamin-millepied-finalize-divorce-after-splitting\/\"> ballet dancer Benjamin Millepied,<\/a> the father of her two children, Aleph, 15, and Amalia, 9, in March 2024 after 11 years of marriage and<a href=\"http:\/\/benjamin millepied cheated page six\"> amid cheating claims.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The writer even alludes to a romance similar to Portman and Millipied\u2019s, which sparked on the set of \u201cBlack Swan\u201d while he was in a long term romance with ballerina Isabella Boylston, who was Portman\u2019s stand-in on the movie.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Rachel Cusk\u2019s \u201cLife of M\u201d is about a former child star who bears more than a passing resemblance to Portman.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>There are even small but telling details like when M is described as smiling out from billboards, \u201cwreathed in the pink flowers of spring\u201d \u2014\u00a0which sounds a lot of Portman\u2019s ads as the longtime face of Miss Dior.<\/p>\n<p>A source in the French capital who knows both women told Page Six this week: \u201cOf course Rachel is writing about Natalie!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is how she goes about her writing,\u201d said the publishing source. \u201cRachel steals from people\u2019s lives and mines acquaintances.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Portman and Cusk looked friendly in September 2021 when the actress selected the writer\u2019s \u201cSecond Place\u201d \u2014 which was long-listed for the prestigious Booker Prize \u2014 for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/CbN8xUwNlbE\/\">her online book club <\/a>and hosted an interview discussion with Cusk, calling her \u201cone of my favorite writers.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>She later announced Cusk\u2019s novel \u201cParade\u201d as her June 2024 book club pick.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Cusk \u201cmines\u201d loved ones and acquaintances for her work, a publishing source said. <span class=\"credit\">ZUMAPRESS.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But a source in the know insisted, \u201cThey hardly know each other \u2026 they have met maybe five or six times, total. Rachel appeared on Natalie\u2019s Instagram book club, and Natalie\u2019s always been a fan of her writing, but they don\u2019t go out and they don\u2019t hang out together.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNatalie is in an amazing place in her life,\u201d the source added. \u201cShe has an incredible partner and very close girlfriends; Rachel Cusk is not one of them, contrary to what she might like you to believe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, the source alleged, \u201cThe idea that they\u2019re close friends being torn apart is a fabrication of a publisher trying to sell a book.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We have reached out to reps for both Portman and Cusk.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s even been online speculation that the actress may have granted the author permission for a roman \u00e0 clef.<\/p>\n<p>But the star, Page Six is told by multiple sources, in no way colluded with Cusk on the book.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Portman and ex-husband Benjamin Millepied divorced in 2014. <span class=\"credit\">Dave J Hogan\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cYes, both Rachel and Natalie live in Paris. Yes, there are references to \u2018Black Swan\u2019 and \u2018Leon,&#8217;\u201d said <strong>the <\/strong>source in the know. \u201cBut there is no deep expos\u00e9. You don\u2019t get to the inner most working of who the character of M is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Valerie Stivers, who<a href=\"https:\/\/unherd.com\/2026\/07\/a-novelists-dark-portrait-of-natalie-portman\/?edition=us\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-nyp-affiliate=\"true\"> broke the story<\/a>, Cusk is \u201cnot dismantling Natalie Portman in the desire to be mean.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019s using Natalie as a literary stand in for elite culture and elite people and as an opportunity to develop her idea that maybe \u2018the self\u2019 doesn\u2019t exist,\u201d Stivers, a senior editor at UnHerd, told Page Six. \u201cWho better than an actress to symbolize that? Is it lies, is it true \u2014 it doesn\u2019t matter. Cusk thinks we\u2019re all actors. She\u2019s always playing games with identity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But, Stivers admitted, \u201cWhether or not Cusk was friends with Portman, the character,\u00a0M,\u00a0is obviously based on her, and has captured something real about Portman\u2019s quest to be normal. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd what Cusk narrator\u2019s concludes is that she\u2019s not succeeding. Outside of the bounds of art, if they\u00a0were\u00a0friends, that conclusion is pretty mean.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Portman won an Oscar for her work in \u201cBlack Swan,\u201d Similarly, Cusk\u2019s character also played a ballerina in a similar movie. <span class=\"credit\">\u00a9Fox Searchlight\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Jean Reno was 44 when he starred opposite Portman, then 12, in \u201cL\u00e9on: The Professional.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">Sygma via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Cusk, who lives in Paris, has won a slew of prestigious literary awards in her career, including the Whitbread First Novel Award, the Somerset Maugham Award, the Goldsmiths Prize, the Prix Femina \u00e9tranger and Italy\u2019s Malaparte Prize<\/p>\n<p>She has been mired in controversy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In her first memoir, \u201cA Life\u2019s Work: On Becoming a Mother\u201d \u2014\u00a0described by The New York Times as \u201ccareer suicide\u201d \u2014 Cusk described motherhood as \u201ca form of disability.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And her 2009 memoir \u201cThe Last Supper: A Summer in Italy\u201d was pulled and pulped shortly after publication \u2014\u00a0after a tourist recognized a critical depiction of himself in the text and threatened a libel and privacy lawsuit, leading to an out-of-court settlement and the destruction of the first print run.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNovelists always draw from their own experiences to create characters, and Rachel is no different \u2014 she\u2019s also one of the best in the business,\u201d said the French source who knows both women. \u201cThere are masses of similarities between Natalie and M., and that\u2019s how it should be.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Portman and daughter Amalia on the New York set of her new Netflix movie, \u201cGood Sex,\u201d earlier this month. <span class=\"credit\">Christopher Peterson \/ SplashNews.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Portman lives with her two children, Aleph (above) and Amalia, in a sprawling townhouse in Paris. <span class=\"credit\">BACKGRID<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The friend also points out that Cusk and her publishers have made \u201cabsolutely no effort at all\u201d to deny claims that she wrote about Portman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRachel is an artist who is under no obligation \u2014 legal or moral \u2014 to explain where she gets her inspiration from. All that matters, is that she\u2019s written a superb book which will undoubtedly be another bestseller\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Aside from a new baby, Portman has new campaigns with Dior and Tiffany coming out this fall. She will star in \u201cThe Gallerist\u201d and, early next year, Lena Dunham\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2025\/07\/22\/entertainment\/natalie-portman-44-shows-off-abs-in-gen-z-approved-crop-top-and-cutoffs\/\">\u201cGood Sex.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Portman has moved her life from the bright lights of Hollywood to Paris. <span class=\"credit\">WireImage,<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>By the end of \u201cThe Life of M,\u201d the actress character tells the narrator, \u201cI don\u2019t like the way you portray me. You\u2019ve made it seem like I lack humanity. You\u2019ve made it seem like I\u2019m unable to love.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For Portman, insiders said, nothing could be further from the truth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNatalie is pretty comfortable with who she is. Her friends know who she is,\u201d said the Hollywood source. \u201cI doubt this is keeping her up at night.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Additional reporting by Peter Allen in Paris.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Natalie Portman has many close friends in her adopted hometown of Paris \u2014 but the acclaimed writer Rachel Cusk is not one of them, sources insist to Page Six. Nonetheless, the two women are in the middle of a literary scandal that has insiders buzzing from Hollywood to France. Cusk\u2019s novel, \u201cLife of M,\u201d out&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/08\/newspress-collage-c01e2tdxh-1786750320127.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&1786735936&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}