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Natalie Portman credits her strong relationships with family and friends with helping her to avoid the perils of youthful fame.
The 37-year-old was thrust into the spotlight when barely in her teens after starring in Leon: The Professional, Luc Besson's movie about a hitman who dotes on an orphaned young girl, has now drawn on her experiences of fame for two new film roles.
In Vox Lux she plays school shooting survivor turned scandal-hit pop diva, and The Death and Life of John F. Donovan sees her star as the distant mother of a child actor who becomes pen-pals with a closeted TV star.
However, Natalie, who is married to French dancer Benjamin Millepied, 41, believes her own relationships contrast greatly with those portrayed by the movies' characters.
"My family and my friends are completely separate from my work side, so no matter where I was, it didn't affect my relationships," she tells The Guardian. "You see with Celeste or John F. Donovan that some of the people they hold dearest to them urge them to go on when they're at their breaking point, because they're profiting off their success. I think that's really dangerous, when you can't separate the emotion from the business."
The actress admits fame has affected her life - and spoke at the Women's March in Los Angeles in January (18) about how she was troubled by fame as a teen, as she received sexually explicit fan mail and unwanted attention from the media. But the actress says her settled private life has meant she's always been able to withdraw from the spotlight.
"In my real life, I feel exposed to the public eye and the concept of celebrity is part of my life," Natalie explains. "But I do also lead a private, quiet life that is relatively guarded from the excesses we see in both the films. So I have access to both worlds."
Both of the Black Swan star's new films debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month (Sep18).