Natalie Portman says the #MeToo movement has been "an incredible learning process".
Natalie Portman for Vogue magazine
The 'Black Swan' star says she has built a lot of new friendships and "support systems" in the wake of the movement that swept Hollywood over the last year or so and encourages people to speak out about any sexual misconduct they've experienced.
She said: "It's been really an incredible learning process, and a lot of new friendships and support systems have formed, and a network that we had never had. It was really surprising and amazing to me. I think I was also surprised by how much I had accepted that was not okay, because of course it was a surprise to realise how many women had been affected by this, by many different perpetrators, and to many different extents, and how with all of it there is a spectrum of things that are not okay that we put up with on a regular basis. I think one thing that was so interesting ... [was] I would hear people say, 'Well, that's not really harassment, that's like a bad date, or we've all had that.' Because we've all had that doesn't mean it's okay, it means it's ubiquitous ... that was really a revelation to me: that it's not just a bad date or a bad boyfriend, that it is abusive and sexist, and we've been living in it, and not only that, but also the [iniquity of] hiring practices and pay."
And Natalie feels blessed to be able to "live out her childhood dreams" through her career.
She added to the April issue of Australia's Vogue magazine: "I feel like I'm getting to live out my childhood dreams through my roles: ballerina, singer, astronaut ... It's going to be my criteria now for choosing movies that I'm going to be playing - next I'll be like a mermaid and a fire woman!"
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