Natalie Portman is giving props to Rihanna for getting her through a tough time.
Portman, 43, has credited the “Lift Me Up” singer with helping her through her divorce from her ex-husband, Benjamin Millepied.
“It was an amazing experience for me,” the actress recalled meeting Rihanna at Paris Fashion Week in January during an interview on the Monday, July 15, episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
“I think every woman going through divorce should get to have Rihanna say to her that she’s a bad bitch. It was exactly what I needed,” she added.
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Host Jimmy Fallon then played a viral clip of Rihanna and Portman meeting for the first time at a Dior fashion show earlier this year. In the video, Rihanna tells the actress, “You are one of the hottest bitches in Hollywood forever,” prompting Portman to respond, “Excuse me? I’m gonna faint.”
“I’m a f–king fan,” Rihanna continued to gush over the May December star. “Yo, I don’t get excited about anybody, but I f–king love you.”
Reacting to the clip, Portman told Fallon, “It was a formative moment in my life.”
Earlier Monday, Portman also addressed the compliment on the Today show, telling Hoda Kotb and guest cohost Justin Sylvester, “It’s the confident boost of a lifetime. And it’s exactly what I needed at that moment in my life and she served it to me, and I’m forever grateful.”
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Portman previously spoke about her encounter with Rihanna in an interview with L’Officiel magazine in April.
“It was just like a dream. I’ve been such a big fan of hers for such a long time. Her music means so much to me, and I was so excited to see her,” she said. “I thought I was just going to go up and tell her that I was a big fan. So it was just a very big compliment that she was so kind to me. It was a very memorable life moment.”
Us Weekly confirmed in August 2023 that Portman and Millepied, 47, quietly split after 11 years of marriage. News of their breakup came two months after it was widely reported that Millepied was having an affair with activist Camille Étienne.
The couple, who share two children, son Aleph, 13, and daughter Amalia, 7, finalized their divorce in March, a rep for the actress confirmed at the time.
