Natalie Portman - German Cosmopolitan
Released in March 2000
Transcribed by Jos B. of the Netherlands
Natalie Portman
By Petra MikuttaIn "Star Wars" she was Queen Amidala, in reality, she is the Princess of Hollywood. Here, Natalie Portman narrates about another favorite role: the brave daughter. The young star, 18, speaks about her mother, father, grandmother and being a celebrity.
COSMOPOLITAN: Are your pants new or did your mother iron them for you?
NATALIE PORTMAN: My mother? Unfortunately, those times are over now that I am in college. Now I have to do all the nonsense myself: the laundry, shopping, vacuuming. At this moment I don't know what I want to be, but in no case will it be a homemaker.
Your mother is a homemaker. Do you feel sympathy for her? Not at all! She is a fervent homemaker and she finds it pleasurable to care for a beautiful home. She is unbelievably selfless/generous. For instance, She can go shopping for the whole day and everything she brings home is for me. Therefore, I sometimes worry. Because I see it unsafe for one's own needs to be put after others. One must still take one's self seriously!
Your film-mother Susan Sarandon in "Anywhere but Here" doesn't have these problems- she makes her daughter's life difficult with her eccentric character. Was your mother ever embarassing to you as well? Yes, of course. I constantly criticized her when I was 13, 14. She laughed foolishly, moved oddly and wore tasteless clothes. She also had an impractical hairstyle, read the wrong books and said the wrong things. However, my mother ignored my nagging. I stopped when i found out that i had been transferring my insecurities on her.
Does your mother sometimes show off with your success? No, she is much too tactful for it. In contrast to my grandma who says, "That's my granddaughter, the world famous actress," at every opportunity. When tell her how embarassing that is, she caresses my cheek gently and says: "Why, It's true!"
Since you have played the Queen Amidala in "Star Wars - Episode I," you've become virtually world famous. My father bought himself a Queen-Amidala-Mousepad. I said: "You are not serious about using that." He replied: "Well of course! Parents often have mousepads with pictures of their children on them. In my case, I didn't have to get it specially made!" But some things are really annoying. For example, a radio station had started a contest to find out where my school was. The prize were highly treasured tickets for the Backstreet Boys. Because of that, I didn't go to school for a long time.
What have you rebelled against during puberty? My parents believe in working hard, being straightforward and friendly, treating each other with respect and love and that smoking, drinking, and swearing are bad. I agree with them on each of those points so I haven't needed to rebel.
What else have your parents contributed to in your life? An appreciation for art. They have taken me to many museums and we have travelled to many countries so that I could gather many new impressions.
You've been in college since last summer. Was your departure very hard for your mother? I am not just her only child, but I was also, over all those years, her job. However, she would never admit how much she misses me and she supported me when I chose a college which wasn't near my parents' house. She was very happy when I left. She would never behave in a way that would make me feel guilty.
Do you have guilty feelings? Of course because I am so happy in my new four-bedroom-dorm and I don't miss being home. I read innumerable books, have new friends I want to meet and, of course, I would like to spend time with my boyfriend.
Have you already told your mother your opinion? I would never blatantly criticize her. At most, I manipulate her. For example, I go shopping with her and say: "Mom, this pullover is made for you. You must have it. I'll give it to you!" Then before I pay for it, she buys it herself.
It sounds as if it would be tough to give her presents. It is impossible. She doesn't like the "things I buy" (ed. note: no one knows what that word is :P). Books, CDs, clothes-she smiles politely when I bring her such things. I have given her gift certificates for day spas - massages, manicures, and so forth, but she hasn't used them. The only present that I can give her is time.
Similarities between you and your mother - when does it apply? Hardly ever. We don't look alike. I am not domestic. I'm not as neat and diplomatic as she is. But, I am about a hundred times more ambitious than her. We are the most different people on earth.
Do you share any interests? Bad. I like to listen to music by Stevie Wonder, Bill Withers, Otis Redding, Björk, Massive Attack or Portishead. My mother doesn't doesn't. She plays tennis, but I don't. However, we take walks together, shop, or we stay at home and I let her cook for me. We cuddle a lot also. It's so cozy!
Who cleared you up? (ed note: on sex. I guess O_o) My father is a gynecologist and specializes in artificial fertilization. I've always known about sperm and the egg. I also know that my mother was conceived on my father's birthday, theoretically - they are precisely 9 months apart. And that I likewise was conceived on my father's birthday - theoretically and practically as well. I can't remember a conversation about sex. When I had a question about it, my parents answered it. They are not as prudish as is often shown, just because they didn't permit me to play Lolita. I was 14 and the role required that I sleep with a 45-year-old man on screen. What kind of parents, who have not fully lost the senses, would allow that?
What things don't you talk about with your mother? I talk to her about school, turning operations, movies we have seen and books we have read and also if I am eating and sleeping enough. However, whether A is with B or C is separated from D is something we don't talk about. I would never gossip with her about boys. She knows that I have a boyfriend and who it is. That's it. What we do together or not is my business. I don't want to hear details about her relationship with my father. She doesn't know about my first kiss and I do not know about hers.
Your mother is not your friend as well? No. I'm glad I don't have a mother who I'll meet in a dance club or who cries out to me. I felt sorry for the film daughter I played in "Anywhere but here," because she often had to be more grown up than her mother. She had no childhood. My mother stands above me, not on the same level. She knows things better than I do, she protects me and tells me how things work. I can allow myself to fall and she is there to catch me.
In your next film, you play a teenage mother. How would her parents react if you were pregnant now? It would be a catastrophe. I would not be able to take their looks anymore. I would be ashamed of myself to death because I would have betrayed everything in which we have always believed.
What do your parents expect from you? They expect that I do my best in school, at work, and with friendships. Always. My parents never oppressed or punished me when my efforts were poor. But they have made it quite clear that they believe I can be great. "You only have 98 points? Where are the other two?" Had my parents expected less of me, I would not be a person I am now. And I am very happy with myself.
Would you like having yourself as a daughter? Well of course. I am a good person, nice, smart, witty, trustworthy, know nice people, don't do drugs and earn a lot of money.
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