For Natalie Portman, a compliment from Rihanna might just be better than therapy. During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the actress detailed how her Paris Fashion Week run-in with the Bad Gal gave her a much-needed confidence boost amid her divorce from Benjamin Millepied.
“I think every woman going through a divorce should get to have Rihanna say to her that she’s a bad bitch,” Portman recalled of her interaction with the singer earlier this year. “It was exactly what I needed,” she added.
Portman crossed paths with Rihanna in January outside of Maria Grazia Chiuri’s spring 2024 couture runway show for Dior. The two exchanged a barrage of compliments to one another, with Rihanna in particular fan-girling over the Black Swan star. “I don’t get excited about anybody,” Rihanna admitted as she called Portman “one of the hottest bitches in Hollywood forever.” She added, “You do the most innocent look, and I’m like ‘Ugh!’”
Portman replied with excitement, saying “Excuse me? I’m gonna faint.” At one point she warned she might “black out” from Rihanna’s unexpected compliments. The actress later shared a photo of the moment on her Instagram account with the caption “Still not over this.”
“That’s a big deal,” Fallon said of the encounter, to which Portman replied, “It was a formative moment in my life.”
Rihanna’s confidence boost came just weeks before Portman officially finalized her divorce from Benjamin Millepied in March. The former couple were married for 11 years and share two children, Aleph and Amalia, together. Their separation largely flew under the radar but was punctuated by rumors of an extramarital affair on the part of Millepied.
“It was initially really tough for her, but her friends rallied around her and helped get her through the worst of it,” an insider told People at the time of Portman’s divorce.
The source continued, “Natalie is coming out of a really tough and painful year but she’s come out the other side of it stronger and is finding joy in her family, friends and work.”
