Actress Natalie Portman to quit acting for motherhood
Closer and Star Wars actress Natalie Portman, 26, is planning to quit her acting career when it’s time for her to become a mother. Even though she is ready to settle down with boyfriend, fashion designer Nathan Bogle, she is reluctant to wed.
I don’t know about marriage. Divorce is so easy and that takes much of the meaning out of it. Committing to one person is sacred. But partnership and kids? Definitely. Motherhood is the greatest thing I can aspire to.
Source: contactmusic.com
Thanks to CBB reader Kitty.
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January 4th, 2008 at 9:46 am
“Motherhood is the greatest thing I can aspire to.”
Hmmm. Part of me completely agrees with this, while the other part is bothered by the fact that she feels she must quit her life as an actress in order to start a family (and thinks that her greatest worth would be her identity as a mother). I’ll be interested to see what she does in the future!
January 4th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Does she mean she’s quitting now? Or just some time in the future?
January 4th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Wow. How wrong can she be? It may be easy to divorce but it is 1000 times easier to simply walk out the door in you aren’t married.
January 4th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
I don’t know if she will totally quit acting forever when shebecomes a mom, but I can see her taking time off for awhile to be a mom. She seems like that type, she did go to college and tends to focus on other stuff than just acting. I like her a lot, she seems smart and to be young, she hasn’t been out of control like other girls her age
January 4th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Sarah, I get what she is saying. I have no desire to be married but I would gladly have kids with a partner. Marriage is just a license, it doesn’t guarantee a happy family and I wish people would stop acting like it does.
January 4th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Are these comments taken out of context? They make no sense. If a partnership is sacred and she doesn’t want to jump into it – why would she settle down and have kids with somebody who isn’t “worthy” of that kind of commitment? Is the commitment to having kids with somebody less sacred than marriage vows? I just don’t get it. There must be more to this interview, because Natalie is smart and usually doesn’t have trouble explaining what she means in an understandable way.
January 4th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
I totally get what she is saying – I agree that the idea of “marriage” has been tainted by the high percentage of divorces, rendering it much more “optional” than it used to be. Where it used to be viewed as a prerequisite to family, it now seems merely a technicality (in my opinion.) If she doesn’t feel she needs “paperwork” in order to be committed to her family, so be it. To each their own …
January 4th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
It’s understandable that marriage is a sacred commitment. Natalie has that right. True, it might be easier to walk out the door if you’re not married–given the paperwork & logistics of a divorce if you are. BUT with the fact that divorce is prevalent, it shows that if people are at the point of getting a divorce–then, they have already walked out the door.
No matter what, it’s a terrible thing to go through for each person and especially for the kids.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
I think all she meant was that the high divorce rate makes the marriage seem less important – if they want to people will split up if married or not whereas it used to be that you got married and stayed married.
January 4th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
I have to agree with you Sarah about the divorce thing. Staying together isn’t always as easy as some make it seem but without going through the paper, splitting up is as easy as packing your bags and walking out the door.
I commend couples who stay together without a piece of paper just as I commend those who stay together because the piece of paper reminds them of what they chose. In my opinion, personality determines whether you stay with someone or not regardless of being legally married or not. I think that it’s a shame that people don’t marry because of fear of divorce but if the psychology of that piece of paper and the trauma of divorce lingers then we do what we have to and I make no judgments on how people choose their partners and choose to live with them.
Natalie appears to be a smart woman and I don’t doubt she will be a great parent when she chooses to do so.
January 4th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
“while the other part is bothered by the fact that she feels she must quit her life as an actress in order to start a family (and thinks that her greatest worth would be her identity as a mother).”
Sarah, I have to respectuflly disagree. I am very liberal and very open minded..not one who you would think is conservative when it comes to anything, but I also happen to believe that motherhood is a woman’s greatest gift. I would quit working in a New York minute to be a mother and only a mother. We, as women, should support each other in our goals, whether it is to be a working mom or a stay at home. If Natalie wishes to retire when she becames a mom I wish her the absolute best.
January 4th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Natalie never intended to be an actress forever. She has a psychology degree from Harvard that she intends to use.
January 4th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Quitting acting doesn’t mean not working at all. It’s difficult for actors to choose the projects they really like when they have kids because they don’t want to leave them behind or move them all the time, with school etc.
About marriage she seems to think the commitment is sacred, just that marriage itself isn’t that powerful anymore since it can be broken like any relationship.
January 4th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
I completely agree with PSB. Natalie is smart and perhaps these comments have been taken out of context.
Surely bring a child, a life into this world is a greater commitment than marriage. Therefore, if you can commit to that, why can’t you commit to marriage first. Because the relationship can be broken? Well once you have a child with someone that tie is there forever, regardless. Therefore if you can have someones baby you can provide them with added security. You never see someone give their ex-boyfriend / girlfriend half of everything do you?! But your wife or husband…well, that little piece of paper still means a lot.
BTW I’m not married. But if I can’t bring myself to marry a man before I have children with him then there is something not quite right…
January 4th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
I just think she’s saying commitment to a person can be sacred regardless of marriage these days. People can make a sacred commitment without it – such as Goldie & Kurt. Don’t get me wrong, I’m married and I love being married but it honestly hasn’t made a difference to our core relationship. Personally, I see having children with a partner as a more sacred commitment to each other than saying words in front of a religious or civil representative. It certainly connects and binds you in a way no piece of paper or legality ever could.
January 4th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Why do we judge other people’s decisions for their lives. PSB,Megan and Sarah, how does Natalie not wanting to be married affect you personally? All of you seem to value marriage which is great…for you but not everyone feels that way and there is nothing wrong with that. I think she is a smart person for realizing that possibly marriage isn’t for her. If you need a piece of paper to remind you why you love someone, you have bigger problems that a marriage won’t fix. Also, it’s well known that if you don’t believe in marriage, getting married is the worst thing to do. Some people believe in marriage, some don’t, can we just leave it at that and be happy.
January 4th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
“Some people believe in marriage, some don’t, can we just leave it at that and be happy.”
You obviously can’t or you wouldn’t have taken PSB’s, Megan’s, and Sarah’s comments so personally and practically scolded them for sharing their opinions.
Personally, I agree with all three, especially Megan. If marriage really is nothing more than a piece of paper as so many claim, why not just get it and all the benefits that come with it? What skin is it off your back, really, to go to town hall with your partner for 20 minutes and commit to him or her in every way possible? I think it’s because whether people want to admit it or not, there *is* so much more to marriage than a simple piece of paper, and the notion of what exactly it will bring scares people.
And I agree with PSB that these quotes sound quite out of context for Natalie. She is clearly an intelligent woman, and she has to know that divorce is far from easy. As Sarah said, It’s a heck of a lot harder for a husband to divorce his family than for a partner to pack his bags and walk out the door.
January 4th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Lauren, you’re missing my point.Marriage is a piece of paper. You can be just as committed to someone without ever being married. I’m saying, we shouldn’t judge some one just because they don’t want to get married. Really..it’s not the end of the world.I guess I feel like every time people complain about it, it’s like they are judging every unwed mother out there or those who choose to have a baby on their own or even those who are single with no kids and never want to be married. It’s a lifestyle choice and I think we should respect that as mature adults.
January 4th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Ok, so I get that divorce has become so common that it’s less desirable to get married if you aren’t into the whole “commitment on a piece of paper thing,” but I don’t think whether or not it’s easy to get a divorce is a valid reason to decide against marriage….what does it matter if your personal commitment to each other is strong? Whatever, I really like Natalie Portman and think she’s a very well educated, very smart woman so I have a hard time criticizing her, especially considering she lives in a very commitment-phobe world.
That all being said, I commend her for the decision to take a break from acting to raise her kids. Acting isn’t like a regular “9-5″ job where you can still work and see your children- acting often requires parents to be away from their children for months at a time or to relocate their families if they want to be together. Natalie should be given praise for her ability to put her kids first and offer them a stable childhood. There are a number of celebs out there that insist on dragging their kids along to suit their own agendas, seemingly without regard for their children’s sense of stability.
January 5th, 2008 at 9:09 am
i think i get what everyone is saying here.
Some argue that ‘what’s the point of marriage if divorce rates are high? I might as well just stay with my partner and doing that, I can still be committed to him.’ But that’s where the flaw of the statement comes in.
BUT if you and your partner are totally committed, what’s stopping you from getting married? If it’s because of the high divorce rates, then what’s there to fear if you say you are totally committed to each other and won’t end up just another divorce statistic?
If it’s because it’s ‘just a piece of paper’, then by making that statement you’re watering down the idea of marriage and making it seem it’s fine for people to just divorce their spouses when the going gets tough cos’ after all, the marriage is ‘just a piece of paper’…it can be thrown away easily.
But in truth, marriage IS commitment because the idea of marriage is ABOUT commitment. Sure, you can be committed without getting married but why marriage came about is to celebrate your commitment with people around you. What’s wrong with that? In this case, marriage is NOT a piece of paper at all, the certificate is simply a legal document for administration purposes. Marriage is a celebration of love and commitment.
I think in the past many people view it that way…just that due to alot of cultural factors and perhaps folly and sin of humankind, people just stopped believing in the true meaning behind marriage.
I think the different viewpoints in this discussion simply stems from differing opinions of what ‘marriage’ means.
If Natalie thinks marriage is just a piece of paper, then yeah she should just not get married and go ahead with living with a committed partner and have kids together. But because she added in the part about divorce rates being high…then it doesnt make sense anymore and contradicts the rest of her statement…which explains why some commentors here think the statement doesn’t reflect her usual smart self.
January 5th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
*Sign*…we are just going to have the same debate over and over again aren’t we. I guess I’m defending Natalie cause I feel the same way.Also, when people judge people who are not married but still have kids, they are ignoring gay parents who cannot legally marry in the U.S.
January 5th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Sarah – You make it sound like there is something wrong w/ quitting your job to be a mother. Personally I’m surprised more celebrities don’t take off at least some time to be w/ their kids. They don’t need the money so why not spend some time staying home w/ their kids when they are young.
January 5th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Renee – good point. I just have to be amused at all those who are confused about her comments on marriage considering she is so “smart.” Guess what – I am smart too – and very well educated – and I agree with her. Funny – yet odd – argument.
January 6th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
What on earth is she saying???? Her statement makes absolutely no sense.
January 6th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Kate–
That was totally my point!
If she said that a relationship is sacred with or without a marriage license and that she doesn’t believe in marriage because the paper doesn’t validate her commitment, then I can understand it.
But–
Her comments seem to indicate that she feels that having a child with somebody is less of a sacred commitment than marriage. This is why it doesn’t make sense. I’m not judging her at all, in regards to not wanting to legally get married – I just don’t understand the rationale that you can have a kid with any boyfriend, but you should only get married if you truly mean it.
This is why I think this is out of context. She must have explained her views more thoroughly earlier/later in the interview. I just don’t think it’s a logical statement.
January 7th, 2008 at 7:11 am
PSB – My thoughts exactly!