Natalie Portman ‘has a normal Parisian life’ these days, ‘her French is good’

Last Friday, Natalie Portman confirmed her pregnancy with a Harper’s Bazaar interview. She’s pretty far along by the look of it. Her pregnancy is notable for a few reasons – she’s 44 years old, and while it’s not out of the realm of possibility, it’s still unusual enough that people were like “whoa, okay.” It was also notable because she really only started dating her boyfriend/partner about fourteen months ago. His name is Tanguy Destable, and in the previous posts about him, I mentioned that I really have no idea how to pronounce his French name. Some French-speakers have tried to sound it out phonetically for me, but y’all know that you’re pronouncing it in different ways as well, right? Ton-GEE it is. (I’m including a how-to-pronounce video at the end of the post). Anyway, part of the reason why Natalie was able to successfully hide her pregnancy for so long is because she really just lives in Paris full-time now. From People:

Natalie Portman is loving life in Paris! The actress, 44, is content in the City of Light while awaiting her first baby with partner Tanguy Destable, a source tells PEOPLE.

“She has a normal Parisian life. Her French is good and confident and shows how comfortable she has become here,” an industry source says

Portman lives in the French city with her two children, Aleph, 13, and Amalia, 9, whom she shares with ex-husband Benjamin Millepied. She and the French director moved there in 2014 after he accepted a job as the director of the Paris Opera Ballet.

The insider says Portman “decided to stay here for her children’s education and built herself a new life around them and her businesses since her divorce from Benjamin. And the result is that she’s fallen in love with Paris.”

The Oscar winner and the French musician were spotted at the restaurant Paulownia in Paris one week before she revealed her pregnancy. The couple sat across from each other and held hands at a table outside the Parisian restaurant, where they were joined by Destable’s mother.

PEOPLE confirmed Portman’s romance with Destable in March 2025 after they were linked by French outlet Voici. The news came one year after she finalized her divorce from Millepied.

Another source tells PEOPLE, “Tanguy is very respected in the music scene. He’s low-key as well. Friends describe him as no drama.”

[From People]

My guess? The terms of her divorce from Benjamin Millepied meant that it would probably be pretty difficult for her to relocate with their children while they’re still so young. Then Donald Trump came back into office, and Portman probably felt like she should make lemonade out of those fascist lemons, and she decided to lean into being a full-time Parisian. That’s just my read of the situation, I have no insider gossip, my gut is just telling me that it’s less about Portman making these decisions on her own and more like the political and child-custodial situations converging to keep her in Paris. But hey, better to be an American expatriate in Paris than most other places. And kudos to her for being multilingual.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

19 Responses to “Natalie Portman ‘has a normal Parisian life’ these days, ‘her French is good’”

  1. Thinking says:

    I’m trying not yo be snarky about “Her French is good.” She claims to be good at a lot of things, linguistically or otherwise, but then I never really see evidence of it. But since she lives in France, I guess I’ll have to believe her.

  2. Normades says:

    For some reason I always thought she spoke French like even before she hooked up with Millepied dude. Anyways her kids are definitely bilingual and there are several very posh schools to choose from.
    I think it was Catherine Deneuve that once said something about how being rich in Paris is wonderful. You can afford the good life and leave anytime you like.

    • Thinking says:

      She’s spoken about individual French words, but I’ve never actually seen her speak French the way Jodie Foster has demonstrated. She talks a lot about France to Jimmy Fallon (in English).

      • Sunny says:

        I suspect her French is pretty good. She was in a French film with Lily Rose Depp several years ago but her character was bilingual. I thought she sounded good but then again I’m Canadian so I won’t judge on accent because of the way people judge ours

        My old roommate did a student exchange with her at the same university in Isreal. She was a few years ahead of my roomate, but she described her as extremely smart.

      • MMRB says:

        she is incredibly intelligent, she’s a harvard graduate – with a degree in psychology and has published works

      • Normades says:

        @thinking. Jodie Foster’s French is so damn perfect and proper! I once had a French friend tell me Jodie Foster speaks better French than she does.

      • Thinking says:

        Yes, I know she’s intelligent and went to Harvard. I still don’t believe her haha, although I do think she knows how to memorize a French script for an Apple commercial.

    • Eleonor says:

      I think she lives a really privileged life, and doesn’t live in France like a lot of us immigrants do. She might be in her super rich bubble.

    • molly says:

      Being super rich in any big city is amazing, so yeah, I don’t blame her one bit. If the math mathed, I’d be fabulous in Europe somewhere, too.

  3. Cosmo says:

    It’s the people least affected by Trump’s policies who talk about leaving the US to live abroad.

    • MMRB says:

      Thats a bit unfair, she left long before Trump came to office, as she was married to another French citizen and went to support his career opportunities, but she has dual Israeli and American citizenship so she could just as easily live in Israel, and would the complaints about leaving the US be the same?

      • Cosmo says:

        I should have been more clear. It wasn’t really about her. It was more Kaiser’s comment that she may have chosen to stay because of Trump. Again, not necessarily about her. It just sort of prompted my more generalized thought about celebrities and the wealthy. I apologize; I wasn’t clear.

      • MMRB says:

        I get that, I’m not from the USA, but it’s certainly a privilege to just disappear when the going gets tough, and I bet a lot of people who supported those celebrities in becoming who they are/became feel a certain level of betrayal about that.

        “I believe that with great wealth comes great responsibility, a responsibility to give back to society and a responsibility to see that those resources are put to work in the best possible way to help those most in need.”
        — Bill Gates

  4. YankeeDoodles says:

    Wasn’t it Henry James who said, “When good Americans die, they go to Paris.” ? …he was an expat in England. Once you cross the Atlantic, there is so much to choose.

  5. Amy Bee says:

    She’s been living in Paris for 12 years and her children’s father lives there. It sounds logical for her to remain in France and not disrupt her children’s lives anymore than she has to.

    • Mrs Robinson says:

      Millepied has had a dance company in LA for quite a while so must spend a good chunk of the year there too.

  6. Shoegirl77 says:

    Can we please please retire the colonial term of expatriate? Just because she’s not Black or brown, she’s an American/Israeli immigrant in France.

    • A Mascarada says:

      I’m a white gal from South America and I’ve been an expatriate in Portugal, Nigeria and France. Because I’ve worked there.

      I thought expatriate meant “a person who lives and works outside their native country”

      • Thelma says:

        African girl and have been expatriate in Malaysia, Dubai, Switzerland. I have the same interpretation of “expatriate”.

Commenting Guidelines

Read the article before commenting.

We aim to be a friendly, welcoming site where people can discuss entertainment stories and current events in a lighthearted, safe environment without fear of harassment, excessive negativity, or bullying. Different opinions, backgrounds, ages, and nationalities are welcome here - hatred and bigotry are not. If you make racist or bigoted remarks, comment under multiple names, or wish death on anyone you will be banned. There are no second chances if you violate one of these basic rules.

By commenting you agree to our comment policy and our privacy policy

Do not engage with trolls, contrarians or rude people. Comment "troll" and we will see it.

Please e-mail the moderators at cbcomments at gmail.com to delete a comment if it's offensive or spam. If your comment disappears, it may have been eaten by the spam filter. Please email us to get it retrieved.

You can sign up to get an image next to your name at Gravatar.com Thank you!

Leave a comment after you have read the article

Save my name and email in this browser for the next time I comment