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While finalizing her divorce, Natalie Portman found strength in kind words from Rihanna.
She opened up about the exchange during a Monday, July 15 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. There, she recalled a run-in with Rihanna, 36, at Paris Fashion Week in January 2024. The sweet interaction was captured on video, and initially shared on Bustle’s Instagram at the time.
Rihanna and Portman can be seen embracing, before the former calls the Garden State actress “one of the hottest b***hes in Hollywood.” Recalling the story to Fallon, Portman said, “I think every woman going through a divorce should get to have Rihanna say to her that she’s a bad b***h.” Portman’s divorce from Benjamin Millepied was finalized the following month, in February 2024, per People.
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
“It was exactly what I needed,” Portman told Fallon, who called it “a big deal.” The Annihilation star added, “It was a formative moment in my life.” In the original clip, Portman told Rihanna, “I love you,” before the singer told her, “I am a f***ing fan.” While Rihanna praised Portman, she quipped, “I’m gonna faint. I’m gonna black out.”
The reciprocal praise continued as Portman said, “I love you and I listen to your music all of the time… You’re such a queen. Thank you.” Days after their encounter, the Black Swan star posted a photo of them hugging, captioning it, “Still not over this… 🥹 @badgalriri.” Barbie actress America Ferrera commented on the post, writing, “None of us will ever be over this meeting of Queens.”
Portman filed for divorce from her husband of 11 years in July 2023, amid rumors that the director and choreographer had had an affair. The couple had met on the set of the Oscar-winning 2010 movie Black Swan, as Millepied was the choreographer for the ballet film.
She and Millepied welcomed their first child together, son Aleph, in June 2011, and tied the knot on August 4, 2012. They welcomed their second child, a daughter named Amalia, in February 2017. Prior to their divorce, the couple had been living together in France.
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