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Natalie Portman has been in the spotlight since childhood, and for the most part, she’s managed to steer clear of scandal.
But now, the Oscar-winner finds herself at the center of a surprising controversy involving a critically acclaimed novelist.
Portman, who is currently pregnant with her third child, once described Rachel Cusk as “one of my favorite writers.”
But now that Cusk is set to release a novel about an actress whose life bears a striking resemblance to Portman’s, that assessment may change.
According to The Times of London, Cusk — a major name in the literary world thanks to books like Outline and Second Place — may have based her upcoming release, The Story of M, on Portman.
The book tells the story of an author who asks her famous actress friend if she can write about her.
“A little while ago, I told the actor M that I was thinking of writing her autobiography. She liked the idea. She’s a good sport,” the story reportedly begins.
The main character — known only as M — is a former child star who, at one point, is cast in a film about ballet (Portman won an Oscar for playing a ballerina in 2011’s Black Swan).
It’s hard not to notice the similarities, and insiders say Portman feels “betrayed” and “outraged” and is attempting to “distance herself” from the book.
“It’s very identifiably a portrait of Natalie Portman that doesn’t seem to recognize her as fully human, suggesting she’s been subsumed by her own fame,” one literary critic who’s close to the situation told the Times.
“But she seems one of the last actresses you’d say that about, because she is highly intelligent and present. I think it dehumanizes her. Her not naming Portman is her way of pretending this is in the dominion of fiction, rather than her being a real person that you have responsibilities to.”
In the final pages of The Story of M, the title character confronts the narrator.
M complains that her portrayal is “hurtful” and contains “things she herself didn’t recognize” about herself.
“It isn’t you,” the narrator pushes back. “It isn’t anyone.”
Is that Cusk’s way of pre-empting claims that the main character was based on Portman? Or is she sincere in her assertion that there was no real-life inspiration for M?
We may never know. But it sounds like Natalie has already reached her conclusion.
The Story of M is set to hit bookstores in August.
Natalie Portman Feels ‘Betrayed’ Scathing New Book Allegedly Based on Her … was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.