Natalie Portman reflects on her bitter experiences as a child star

Natalie Portman has recently reflected on the downside of child stardom.

While speaking with Jenna Ortega, the Atonement star revealed that she felt “sexualised” while growing up in the spotlight.

“There’s a public understanding of me that’s different from who I am,” she told her The Gallerist co-star for Interview magazine.

Natalie said that as a child, she “was really sexualised,” which she believed happened to a lot of young girls who are onscreen.

“I felt very scared by it,” remarked the 43-year-old.

The Pride & Prejudice actress opened up that she began filming commercials at a very tender age.

“Obviously, sexuality is a huge part of being a kid, but I wanted it to be inside of me, not directed towards me,” mentioned Natalie.

The May December actress continued, “And I felt like my way of protecting myself was to be like, 'I’m so serious. I’m so studious. I’m smart, and that’s not the kind of girl you attack.”

“I was like, if I create this image of myself, I’ll be left alone,” she confessed.

Natalie pointed out that her experiment “worked”, however, she told Jenna, “There was a disconnect between me being stupid and silly in real life, and people thinking that I’m some really serious bookish person.”

“I’m not a particularly private person in real life but in public, it was so clear early on that if you tell people how private you are, your privacy gets respected a lot more,” explained the Thor actress.

Natalie added, “I set up a little bit of a barrier to be like, 'I’m not going to do photo shoots with my kids.’”