The award-winning actress was speaking at a Women's March event
As the discussion of sexual harassment in Hollywood continues - and campaigns including #MeToo and TimesUp push forward for everyday women - more and more female actresses are joining the conversation with their stories. Now Natalie Portman has spoken up about how she was sexually terrorised as a child after the shooting of her first feature film.
Natalie Portman has been a prominent figure at Women's Marches during the past two years
The Black Swan star took to the stage at Saturday’s Women’s March (20 Jan) in Los Angeles with fellow actresses Eva Longoria and Constance Wu and spoke about her experiences growing up as a child star.
She told the crowd: "I turned 12 on the set of my first film Leon: The Professional, on which I play a young girl who befriends a hitman and hopes to avenge the murder of her family.
"The character was spontaneously developing and discovering her womanhood, her voice and her desire. At that moment of my life, I too was discovering.
MORE: Natalie Portman Skipped The Oscars Because She Was A New Mum
"I was so excited at 13 when the film was released that my work and my art had a human response and I excitedly opened my first fan mail to read a rape fantasy that a man had written me.
"A countdown was started on my local radio show to my 18th birthday - euphemistically the date that I would be legal to sleep with.
"Movie reviewers talked about my budding breasts in reviews. I understood very quickly, even as a 13-year-old, that if I were to express myself sexually I would feel unsafe and that men would feel entitled to discuss and objectify my body to my great discomfort."
MORE: Natalie Portman Welcomes Second Child
The Oscar-winner explained how she changed the way she presented herself in public, rejecting roles which could sexualise her and building a reputation as "prudish, conservative, nerdy, serious".
She added: "The response to my expression, from small comments about my body to more threatening deliberate statements, served to control my behaviour through an environment of sexual terrorism."
The mum-of-two was one of many famous faces who took to the stage to share her views including Scarlett Johansson and Mila Kunis.
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