Moby Apologizes to Natalie Portman: “I Absolutely Should’ve Acted More Responsibly and Respectfully”

Moby has apologized to Natalie Portman. The DJ and producer took to Instagram Saturday morning, where he published two separate posts addressing recent controversy surrounding his alleged romantic involvement with the Black Swan actress close to 20 years ago. “I certainly haven’t enjoyed this last week, but it’s reminded me of a couple things,” he opens in the first post.

In the second post titled “from moby, an apology,” the musician speaks to the Portman incident specifically, addressing both claims made in his recent memoir Then It Fell Apart, as well as this week’s backlash. “As some time has passed I’ve realized that many of the criticisms levels at me regarding my inclusion of Natalie in Then It Fell Apart are very valid,” he writes. “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.”

The statement also addresses the wide age gap between the two, which has been part of the controversy. “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.”

In his recent memoir Then It Fell Apart, Moby claimed that he briefly dated Portman when she was 20 and he was in his 30s. Portman later disputed the claim in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, where she called him a “much older man being creepy.” “He said I was 20; I definitely wasn’t. I was a teenager. I had just turned 18,” she told the magazine.

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Since then, Moby has continued to discuss the incident on Instagram, where he posted a photo of himself shirtless with his arm around Portman with a caption claiming that they were in fact close. On Thursday, he addressed the backlash, where he provided more photos of the two together as evidence that they dated. “It hurts to be lied about, especially as I’ve always respected her, and I thought we were friends,” the post reads. “But I’ve been receiving anonymous threats of violence from her fans, and it’s affecting my business and my health.”

See Moby’s latest posts below.

 

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I certainly haven’t enjoyed this last week, but it’s reminded me of a couple of things. 1-our sense of self and well-being really shouldn’t come from the opinions of strangers. personally I think I’d become too reliant on external validation, especially in the form of social media. trust me, that has ended.. and: 2-my problems are tiny and insignificant, especially in a world where over 100 billion animals are killed by and for humans every year, and where we’re facing largely unprecedented environmental destruction and degradation. for a long time my primary goal has been to be a better, and more effective, activist. who knows, maybe the insanity of this last week will somehow help me to do that. it certainly does seem that for me(or any of us) to obsess over social media when the world is truly falling apart is an un-ethical waste of time. -moby p.s-a reminder; none of our concerns will matter if the climate keeps rising, the rainforest keeps disappearing, and species continue to go extinct. social media won’t sustain us in a world that doesn’t support human life.

A post shared by moby xⓋx (@moby) on May 25, 2019 at 3:55am PDT

 

View this post on Instagram

 

As some time has passed I’ve realized that many of the criticisms leveled 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. 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 apologize, to Natalie, as well as the other people I wrote about in Then It Fell Apart without telling them beforehand. 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

A post shared by moby xⓋx (@moby) on May 25, 2019 at 6:44am PDT