The Portman Powerhouse

She's killing it in her career, winning at the work/life balance, and has excellent taste in wine (plus a very dirty laugh.) It's safe to say Natalie Portman is having the time of her life in her new home, France

- Kerry Potter

Things I didn’t expect when i went to interview Natalie Portman in a chateau in the hills above Cannes:

1. Swearing. Isn’t she Hollywood’s most prim and proper, most ladylike star? You’d never catch this Harvard graduate flashing flesh on the red carpet or falling out of a club, so it’s something of a shock when she drops the F-bomb. ‘I’m so boring! F**k, what’s my vice? Probably looking at stupid fashion websites – I’ll look at dresses for an hour and my husband will say, “What are you doing?”’ she says with a wonderfully husky guffaw. (If they ever make a biotic of her life, she says the title will be She Had A Dirty Laugh.)

2. Rapping. I’ve heard she likes hip-hop, I just can’t picture her reciting lyrics. But here she is, with a rendition of Shoop by Salt-N-Pepa: ‘Here I go, here I go, here I go again/ Girls, what’s my weakness? Men!’ she sings, with a shimmy. 

3. Boozing. She exits, gleefully clutching a bag containing three – three! – bottles of the deliciously chilled rosé from the chateau’s vineyard. Has someone got a big night planned?