Music

Moby apologises to Natalie Portman over dating claims

Actor had publicly contradicted musician’s account of their relationship in new memoir

Musician Moby has apologised to Natalie Portman over claims in his new memoir. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA Wire

Sat May 25 2019 - 22:22

Musician Moby has publicly apologised to Natalie Portman days after she claimed he had been "creepy" with her in her younger years.

In his new memoir Then It Fell Apart, Moby (53) alleged that he had met Portman when she was 20 and that they had dated briefly.

Portman said that she remembered their relationship differently, telling Harper’s Bazaar UK online that “there are many factual errors and inventions” in Moby’s writing.

The actor (37) told the outlet: “I was surprised to hear that he characterised the very short time that I knew him as dating because my recollection is a much older man being creepy with me when I just had graduated high school. He said I was 20; I definitely wasn’t. I was a teenager. I had just turned 18.”

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Moby initially fired back at her comments, saying that he was “confused” at her denial over a relationship with him, insisting that they did date.

However, he has now issued an apology to the Hollywood star, and said that all criticisms of him in recent days are “very valid”.

In a post on Instagram, he said that he fully recognises "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.

“I have a lot of admiration for Natalie, for her intelligence, creativity, and animal rights activism, and I hate that I might have caused her and her family distress.

“I tried to treat everyone I included in Then It Fell Apart with dignity and respect, but nonetheless it was truly inconsiderate for me to not let them know before the book was released.

“So for that I apologise, to Natalie, as well as the other people I wrote about in Then It Fell Apart without telling them beforehand.”

The musician added that he should have “acted more responsibly and respectfully when Natalie and I first met almost 20 years ago”, given their “almost 14-year age difference”. – PA

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