Natalie Portman feuds with Moby over dating history

Social media erupts after actress denies dating singer and he doubles down.

MAY 24, 2019 05:00

Actor Natalie Portman poses at the world premiere of the film "The Avengers: Endgame" in Los Angeles, California, April 22, 2019 (photo credit: MARIO ANZUONI/REUTERS) — Actor Natalie Portman poses at the world premiere of the film "The Avengers: Endgame" in Los Angeles, California, April 22, 2019

(photo credit: MARIO ANZUONI/REUTERS)

Did Israeli-American actress Natalie Portman ever date musician Moby? The jury is out, but the Internet is very much in for the bizarre gossip story that’s lighting up social media.

How did it all begin?

Moby, a 53-year-old musician and animal rights activist, published a memoir this week titled Then It All Fell Apart. In the book, he claims that he met Portman when he was 33 and she was 20, and she flirted with him and they briefly dated.

But in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Portman said the reality was very different.

“I was surprised to hear that he characterized the very short time that I knew him as dating because my recollection is a much older man being creepy with me when I just had graduated high school,” she told the magazine. “He said I was 20; I definitely wasn’t. I was a teenager. I had just turned 18.” Rather, Portman said, she was a fan of his and met him backstage after a show: “We only hung out a handful of times before I realized that this was an older man who was interested in me in a way that felt inappropriate.”

But that’s not the end of the story. Because in an Instagram post on Wednesday, the singer doubled down on his original claims, alongside a photo of the pair of them from the period of time in question.

“I recently read a gossip piece wherein Natalie Portman said that we’d never dated,” Moby wrote. “This confused me, as we did, in fact, date. And after briefly dating in 1999 we remained friends for years. I like Natalie, and I respect her intelligence and activism. But, to be honest, I can’t figure out why she would actively misrepresent the truth about our (albeit brief) involvement.”

A post shared by moby xⓋx (@moby) on May 22, 2019 at 3:23am PDT

The singer continued by saying that the account in his memoir “is accurate, with lots of corroborating photo evidence,” adding that he would certainly understand Portman regretting dating him, “but it doesn’t alter the actual facts of our brief romantic history.”

With the bizarre dispute making the rounds online, many couldn’t help poking fun at that story.

That included Israeli Consul-General to New York Dani Dayan, who posted a photo on Twitter of himself and Portman with the caption: “I never claimed she was my girlfriend.”

I never claimed she was my girlfriend. pic.twitter.com/r0qWLWnZBM
— Dani Dayan (@AmbDaniDayan) May 23, 2019

Most Twitter users appeared to be clearly on team Portman in the online battle.

“I don’t know who needs to hear this today, but you are not dating Natalie Portman,” wrote Kat Kinsman, senior editor at Food and Wine Magazine.

Writer and performer Natalie Walker summed it up succinctly, tweeting: “I think most men should have to look in the mirror each morning and say ‘Natalie Portman is not interested in me’ 100x before starting their day.”