Moby Admits It's Still 'Hard for Me to Make Sense' of Natalie Portman's Negative Comments About Their Past Relationship
Moby Admits It's Still 'Hard for Me to Make Sense' of Natalie Portman's Negative Comments About Their Past Relationship
Raven BrunnerMon, February 23, 2026 at 8:05 PM UTC
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Moby; Natalie Portman
Kurt Krieger - Corbis/Corbis via Getty; Dia Dipasupil/Getty
Moby spoke about his past relationship with Natalie Portman in a recent interview
He claimed in his 2019 memoir that he dated the actress in 1999 when he was 33 and she was 18
Portman previously denied his claim, saying, "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"
Moby still doesn’t know what to make of his past relationship with Natalie Portman.
The musician, 60, spoke about his alleged relationship with Portman in an interview with The Times published on Friday, Feb. 20. He claimed in his 2019 memoir, Then It Fell Apart, that he dated the actress in 1999 when he was 33 and she was 18.
Portman denied his claim, saying that same year, "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."
Moby and Natalie Portman. Theo Wargo/WireImage
The “Feeling So Real” singer responded then with, "I completely respect Natalie’s possible regret in dating me (to be fair, I would probably regret dating me, too), but it doesn’t alter the actual facts of our brief romantic history."
But now, Moby admitted to The Times, "It's hard for me to make sense of it."
When mentioned that the incident seemed like a "sour episode between two people who seem decent," he said, "In so far as I’m capable of perspective on that, I don’t disagree with what you’re saying."
In Portman’s previous interview, she said she met Moby when she was a fan attending one of his concerts.
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"When we met after the show, he said, ‘Let’s be friends.’ He was on tour and I was working shooting a film, so we only hung out a handful of times before I realized that this was an older man who was interested in me in a way that felt inappropriate," she recalled.
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Moby issued an apology to Portman a few days later, in which he said 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," he wrote.
Moby also addressed the age gap of nearly 14 years between him and Portman, saying, "I absolutely should've acted more responsibly and respectfully when Natalie and I first met almost 20 years ago."
The singer released his 23rd studio album, Future Quiet, on Feb. 20.
He will perform at the 2026 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April, followed by international tour dates through August.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
