Ever since she earned her breakthrough with her debut performance in Léon: The Professional, Natalie Portman has been acing her game as tremendously as ever, going on even to become a part of massive mammoth franchises like the Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But in SW, she held one of the lead roles in the prequel trilogy, which, unfortunately, didn’t turn out well.
Although she did an incredible job at nailing it as her character Padmé Amidala on the big screens, the trilogy still went on to become one of the most despised ones from the entire saga. That said, Portman does not want her kids to watch her in those SW films. However, her reasoning behind this is different and is along the lines of something that truly left many fans heartbroken.
Natalie Portman’s Star Wars Trilogy is “Off Limits” for Her Kids’ Watchlist
Natalie Portman may have scored one of the prominent roles in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, but even scoring a role in that giant franchise isn’t enough for her to let her kids watch her in the film series. And while many might expect the reason behind this to be the way the trilogy was received, that is hardly the case.
As it turns out, the real reason why the Thor: Love and Thunder actress doesn’t want her son Aleph, 12, and daughter Amalia, 7, to stream her SW film series is because of the devastating fate her character meets that left even thousands of fans heartbroken.
As fans already know, Portman’s character Padmé Amidala, who was the Queen and then Senator of Naboo, dies in a heart-wrenching scene in the movie. This is why the actress, understandably, doesn’t want her kids to see that.
At least, that’s what she expressed during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Portman said (via Entertainment.ie):
It’s kind of a shame because you know when I made it, I was like, ‘This is going to be the coolest thing, one day when I have kids, I can show them.’
Continuing, she then explained why she has made her prequel version of the trilogy off-limits for her kids’ watchlist, saying:
Then I realized: I die in the movies. I feel like it’s kind of a scary thing to show your kid.
Well, that is indeed understandable, because no parent would want their kids to see them that way — especially one that had a lot of the fans of George Lucas‘ space opera outraged and heartbroken at the unexpectedly devastating turn of events.
But that isn’t all, because there’s one more similar reason behind this that Portman later shared.
Another Reason Why Natalie Portman Won’t Let Her Kids Watch the Prequel Trilogy
During another interview with Fatherly, Natalie Portman expressed how she doesn’t want her kids to view her as “anything other than their mom.” If anything, she claimed she finds it “weird” if her kids saw and thought of her in a different light.
Explaining her point of view, the May December actress said:
I think it’s so weird for them to think of me as anything other than their mom. They’ve seen the recent ‘Star Wars’ movies that I am not in — my son has, my daughter, is too young.
For whatever it’s worth, besides the fact that she doesn’t want her kids to see her in any sort of different light than that of their mother, it must have been pretty disappointing for Portman to have starred in the prequel trilogy — especially when she initially intended to show it off to her kids.
You can stream the prequel Star Wars trilogy (i.e., Episode I, Episode II, and Episode III) on Disney+.