Thor Star Natalie Portman Reportedly Separated From Husband After 11 Years of Marriage

Natalie Portman (42) has reportedly separated from her husband, French dancer/choreographer Benjamin Millepied (46), after eleven years of marriage. News of Portman's separation is coming just a month after the Thor star and her husband were making scandalous headlines for reports of Millepied having an alleged affair with climate activist Camille Étienne (25). Portman was recently spotted and photographed on her 11th wedding anniversary without her ring on her finger; she and Millepied have two children together, a son Aleph (12), and daughter Amalia (6). 

"After news of his affair came out, they've been trying to work on their marriage but are currently on the outs," a source allegedly told US Magazine. 

When rumors of Millepied's affair first broke, a source told the following to US: 

"Natalie believes Benjamin's affair was a brief and stupid liaison that means nothing to him," the source said, adding that Natalie was "willing to see if she's capable of rebuilding her trust," so that their children don't "grow up in a broken home."

A second source said that "Right now, they are talking and working on it together for the sake of their children." 

Natalie Portman and Benjamin Millepied first met on the set of Darren Aronofsky's film Black Swan in 2009, in which they both starred. Portman won an Oscar for her performance as Nina Sayers, a mentally-troubled ballet dancer who lands a lead role in Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, in the New York City Ballet Company. Millepied played the Prince Siegfried character in the performance, creating an odd mirror to the real-life romance that eventually unfolded between Portman and Millepied. The two were married in 2012. s

"I met my husband on it [Black Swan], so I think I was in, like, dreamland," Portman said of the movie during a SiriusXM interview back in 2018. "He was teaching me to dance. You know, one of those romantic [stories] ... It was definitely exciting and fun. It was beautiful. I don't know about instant. It was like I really got to know him and that was when it seemed like, 'Oh this is the person.'"

Millepied raised eyebrows back in Spring of this year when he responded to a question about collaborating with his wife by saying "We're like two artists with different ambitions and interests." Although Millepied did acknowledge he and Portman were always aware of what the other was working on, and even had a possible collab project coming up, the comment still held an odd undertone that felt validated when rumors of the affair started swirling weeks later. Millepied released a feature-film re-imagining of Carmen starring Melissa Barrera (Scream) and Paul Mescal (The Lost Daughter), and Elsa Patakay (Fast Five) last year; it received mixed reviews, got little exposure, and took in just $565K at the box office.