Natalie Portman is done with the fishbowl. Honestly, if you’ve been following the Black Swan star lately, you might have noticed a shift. It’s not just the choice of roles or the lack of red-carpet appearances with a partner. It’s the vibe. After a very public, very painful 2023 that saw her 11-year marriage to French choreographer Benjamin Millepied dissolve under the weight of intense tabloid scrutiny, the Oscar winner has essentially hit the reset button.
Natalie Portman and family life look a whole lot different in 2026 than they did just a few years ago. She isn’t hiding, but she is definitely "discreet"—a word she’s admitted to loving. She has traded the sprawling estates of Montecito for the limestone streets of Paris, and it’s not just for the croissants.
The Reality of Co-Parenting in the City of Light
Let’s get the logistics out of the way. Natalie and Benjamin finalized their divorce in February 2024. It was quiet. It was efficient. And despite the messy rumors of infidelity that preceded it, the two seem to have pulled off the impossible: a functional, drama-free co-parenting relationship.
They have two kids. Aleph is now 14, and Amalia is 8.
The family is based in Paris. Natalie has been pretty vocal about why she prefers the French capital over Los Angeles. In a recent chat with Net-A-Porter, she mentioned that in Paris, the "biggest compliment" you can give someone is that they are discrète. Basically, people leave you alone. In LA, you go to the grocery store and it’s a production. In Paris, she’s just another mom walking her kids to school.
Why the "French Way" Works for Her
Portman has joked about being a "soccer mom," but the French version is a bit different. She’s noted that French children are raised with a specific kind of etiquette.
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- The "Bise": Kids who come over to her house actually say "Bonjour Madame" and give the traditional cheek-to-cheek kiss.
- Manners: They don’t just bolting out the door; they find her to say thank you.
- Privacy: There is a cultural respect for boundaries that simply doesn't exist in the States.
She’s also been spending a ton of time with her friends and their kids. It sounds like a normal, grounded existence. She told Jenna Ortega in Interview magazine that her kids are her "source of excitement" because she gets to watch them turn into their own people. Aleph is apparently a "ferocious" soccer player. Amalia, on the other hand, is the reason Natalie started writing children’s books.
The Parent Trap: Why She Wrote "Natalie Portman’s Fables"
Natalie’s approach to motherhood is deeply intellectual, which shouldn’t surprise anyone who knows she went to Harvard while filming Star Wars. When Amalia was born, Natalie noticed something annoying. Everyone gave her daughter "feminist baby books." But when Aleph was born? Nothing.
It bugged her.
She realized that if we only teach girls about equality, we’re missing half the equation. Boys need to see these values too. This frustration led her to write Natalie Portman’s Fables, where she updated classics like The Tortoise and the Hare to be more inclusive and less gender-stereotyped. She even admitted to changing the pronouns in her kids' old books before she finally just wrote her own.
Protecting the "Asgardian Kids"
You might have missed it, but both Aleph and Amalia actually had tiny cameos in Thor: Love and Thunder. They played "Asgardian Kids." Natalie mentioned that they were actually the ones who pushed her to take the role of Mighty Thor. They wanted to see their mom with the hammer.
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Speaking of the hammer, she kept a stunt version of Mjolnir at home. She told Jimmy Kimmel that she has to be careful when other kids come over for playdates so nobody gets accidentally clobbered by a mythological weapon.
The Barrier
Natalie is very firm on one thing: no professional photoshoots with the kids. You won’t see them on the cover of Vogue with her. She’s set up a "barrier." She’s happy to talk about them, to share anecdotes about their love for animals or their soccer games, but their faces stay off her professional grid.
A Legacy of Groundedness
If you want to understand why Natalie is so protective, you have to look at her own parents, Avner Hershlag and Shelley Stevens. They moved around a lot when she was a kid—Jerusalem, Washington D.C., Connecticut, and finally Long Island.
Her dad is a fertility specialist; her mom is an artist (or a "housewife" who Natalie insists is an artist of the domestic). They never took a dime from her career. They were just parents. Natalie has said that if she can be even a "shadow" as good a parent as they were, she’ll be happy.
She’s an only child, which is something she occasionally regrets. She’s mentioned feeling "strange" that her kids won’t have cousins on her side or "conspirators" to talk about her with when they’re older. But maybe that’s why she’s built such a tight-knit community of friends in Paris.
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What’s Next for the Portman-Millepied Clan?
The "new normal" for Natalie Portman and family involves a lot of sports, a lot of French culture, and a lot of Angel City FC. As a founder of the NWSL team, Natalie is obsessed with showing her kids—both her son and her daughter—that female athletes deserve to be icons.
She’s making career choices based on logistics now. If a job is great but doesn't work with the school schedule, she might pass. She’s prioritizing the "smooth transition" she’s wanted for her kids since the divorce.
Actionable Takeaways for Following Natalie's Journey:
- Look for her work, not her personal life: She has made it clear she won't contribute to the "narrative" of her divorce.
- Support her causes: Her focus is heavily on Angel City FC and children's literacy.
- Respect the "Discreet" Vibe: If you’re looking for a tell-all memoir, don’t hold your breath. She’s living her best, quiet life in France.
Natalie is proving that you can survive a very public heartbreak and come out the other side with your family—and your sanity—intact. She’s not just a movie star; she’s a mom navigating a new country and a new chapter, one soccer practice at a time.