To promote his memoir Then It Fell Apart, Moby (53) published an except from his book detailing a salacious relationship with a young Natalie Portman. He accused her of cheating on him with another man and in a dramatic fashion found himself relieved because he had wanted to break up with her.
Now that Natalie (37) has spoken up about the reality, Moby finds himself caught between a rock and a hard place.
Moby's Natalie Portman Dating Claims
In the portion of his memoir he used to promote the book, he claims when he was 34 and Natalie was 20, the pair began dating after flirting at one of his concerts. He detailed how he revelled in the attention he received from paparazzi for having her by his side. Natalie was irritated with the harassing attention but Moby admits he loved to "soak up the flashes."
He also recalled meeting Aerosmith's frontman Steven Tyler who was shocked to see Moby with Natalie. Tyler apparently asked him, "Are you with Natalie Portman?' 'I guess so,' I said. 'She's so hot,' he said, and walked away."
After explaining their relationship in great detail, even down to the dress she was wearing when they first met, Natalie herself was quick to respond. In an interview with Harper's Bazaar she denied the pair dated. The V For Vendetta star explained, "I was surprised to hear that he characterized the very short time that I knew him as dating because my recollection is a much older man being creepy with me."
"He said I was 20; I definitely wasn’t. I was a teenager. I had just turned 18. There was no fact-checking from him or his publisher — it almost feels deliberate. That he used this story to sell his book was very disturbing to me. It wasn’t the case. There are many factual errors and inventions. I would have liked him or his publisher to reach out to fact check."
Moby at first took to social media to double down on his claims by posting a few photos of the two of them before deleting the post. He then received much heat from both her and his own fans. In a lengthy Instagram apology, he wrote, "As some time has passed I’ve realized that many of the criticisms levelled at me regarding my inclusion of Natalie in Then It Fell Apart are very valid."
"I also fully recognize that it was truly inconsiderate of me to not let her know about her inclusion in the book beforehand, and equally inconsiderate for me to not fully respect her reaction... Also, I accept that given the dynamic of our almost 14-year age difference I absolutely should’ve acted more responsibly and respectfully when Natalie and I first met almost 20 years ago."
Moby Responds To Natalie Portman
Moby then cancelled his UK book tour and has just spoken to The Guardian about the whole ordeal. The musician explained his choices by saying in the 2000s he was reckless, "I was this out of control, utterly entitled, self-involved drink and drug addict and I loved reading about myself, almost pathologically, which I know is not something we’re supposed to admit."
"You know, you're asking me to open up such a can of worms… There's no good way to answer: one option is terrible, the other is really terrible… So if we were playing chess right now, this is the part where I'd pick up my phone and pretend I've got an emergency call."
When The Guardian asked if he was sorry for what he had done he responded, "A part of me wishes I could spend the next two hours deconstructing the whole thing… but there's levels of complexity and nuance that I really can't go into."
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