The Most Tragic Details About Natalie Portman's Divorce From Benjamin Millepied

Natalie Portman is opening up about what her personal life looks like after her 2024 split from husband Benjamin Millepied. In an April 2025 chat with "The Gallerist" co-star Jenna Ortega for Interview Magazine, Portman shared wise advice that she learned from her Hollywood predecessors: "It's important to go for joy." The "Star Wars" alum continued, "You want to find that joy and lightness and humor in your work when things are harder at home."

Her sentiments come just over a year after finalizing her divorce from Millepied, with whom she shares her kids — Aleph and Amalia. At the time, a source close to Portman told People that "Her biggest priority has been ensuring a smooth transition for her children." But that transition couldn't have been easy. Their separation came in the wake of accusations against Millepied that suggested he was involved in an extramarital affair. In February 2023, French magazine Voici reportedly found evidence that the Bordeaux-born choreographer cheated with a woman whom Marca identified as French climate activist Camille Étienne. While neither Millepied nor Portman confirmed the rumors, Portman quietly filed for divorce in July of the same year. Since then, the ex-couple's lives have been fraught with even more speculation, media attention, and heartbreak.

Natalie Portman and Benjamin Millepied's meet-cute-turned-romance sounded like a script for a movie. The pair met on the 2009 set of "Black Swan," which Portman starred in and Millepied choreographed. "We had a whole, like, he was teaching me to dance," she said in a 2018 SiriusXM interview about the beginning of her relationship with Millepied. "It was beautiful." After nearly 12 years of marriage, it's no surprise that their divorce was painful for Portman.

According to a source who spoke with Us Weekly in 2024, the husband and wife were having problems for a while, and it came to a head when Portman suspected Millepied was having an affair. Another insider said she "was humiliated and utterly crushed by Benjamin's behavior." Through their divorce process, Portman even reportedly sought professional guidance. "She's struggling emotionally, so she's enlisted the help of a top professional divorce coach to try to lift her spirits," a source claimed at the time, per OK! Magazine. They also said Portman was blindsided by their marital issues and was "totally destroyed" by their breakup.

Sources have equally come out to disclose how heartbreaking the split was for Benjamin Millepied. The former artistic director of Paris Opera Ballet was reportedly remorseful about his suspected infidelity and wanted to glue the pieces of his relationship back together. An insider told People in June 2023 that "He knows he made an enormous mistake, and he is doing all he can to get Natalie to forgive him and keep their family together." Millepied's efforts were evidently in vain. "She has no doubt he regrets what he did," another source told Us Weekly of Natalie Portman, adding, however, "She couldn't forgive him."

But just months after their divorce was finalized, Millepied had seemingly moved on. In October 2024, the dancer was photographed kissing a mystery woman on the streets of Paris. Fortunately, Portman seemed unscathed after learning of her ex-husband's new romance. "Natalie isn't surprised that Benjamin has moved on because of how their relationship ended. She thought he'd move on pretty quickly," an insider revealed to Us Weekly a month after the photos of Millepied were published. "[Natalie] hopes Benjamin is happy."

Natalie Portman hasn't said much about her divorce from Benjamin Millepied herself — it's been insider claims for the most part. She did, however, give a brief statement to Vanity Fair when they asked her how it felt to have her marriage spotlighted in the media. "It's terrible, and I have no desire to contribute to it," she said. When the interviewer confessed that they didn't feel good about asking the question, Portman simply replied, "I can imagine."

Portman leads a fairly private life for an industry A-Lister, who has had a stunning transformation while working in Hollywood since she was a child. Residing in Paris, France, with her two children has made it easier for the actor to live in the shadows, not dogged by Los Angeles paparazzi. "They're very good at privacy here," she told Net-a-Porter in May 2025. "I feel like the biggest compliment is 'elle est très discrète' ['she is very discreet']."

Benjamin Millepied's dating history seemingly foreshadowed his split with Natalie Portman. At the time that Portman and Millepied became romantically involved in 2010, a source claimed to Page Six that the French choreographer was in a fairly serious relationship. "The real reason [Portman] was quiet about things is that Ben had a live-in girlfriend of three years when they met," they said. Ok! Magazine identified the mystery girlfriend as Isabella Boylston, a dancer at the American Ballet Theater. According to the Page Six source, Boylston thought that she and Millepied were close to tying the knot. Instead, she packed her bags and moved out by New Year's.

While Portman and Millepied seemingly moved on from the scandal without a scratch, the ballet world wasn't happy. Boylston's colleagues stood by her, with one senior member of the American Ballet Theater telling The Guardian that Millepied acted "pretty brutally and unchivalrously." Over a decade later, Millepied was once again spotlighted for his unsavory behavior, this time allegedly sacrificing his marriage for another woman.