Academy Award-winning actress Natalie Portman has given up her vegan ways and reverted back to vegetarianism as a result of her pregnancy, reports Us Weekly.
“I actually went back to being vegetarian when I became pregnant, just because I felt like I wanted that stuff,” Portman said during a Monday interview with the Q100 Bert Show. “I was listening to my body to have eggs and dairy and that sort of stuff.”
Though she caved and went back to eating otherwise forbidden food, Portman knows that there are others who would remain vegan in spite of carrying a child.
“I know there are people who do stay vegan,” Portman added, “but I think you have to just be careful, watch your iron levels and your B12 levels, and supplement those if there are things you might be low in in your diet.”
The 29-year-old Black Swan star, who is engaged to choreographer boyfriend Benjamin Millepied, has no regrets about switching up her diet.
“If you’re not eating eggs, then you can’t have cookies or cake from regular bakeries, which can become a problem when that’s all you want to eat,” Portman said. “I actually wanted eggs at the beginning and then they grossed me out after a while.”
Upon receiving her Oscar in February, Portman was under scrutiny from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee for being an unwed parent. Huckabee said Portman gave the world a “distorted image” of pregnancy, as most people don’t have the same resources, financial independence, and luxuries as the Stepmom actress.
“One of the things that’s troubling is that people see a Natalie Portman who boasts, ‘We’re not married but we’re having these children and they’re doing just fine,'” Huckabee said last month. “I think it gives a distorted image. It’s unfortunate that we glorify and glamorize the idea of out-of-wedlock children.”
After feeling some backlash and criticism himself for putting down the Israeli star, Huckabee released a statement of clarification.
“Natalie is an extraordinary actor, very deserving of her recent Oscar and I am glad she will marry her baby’s father,” Huckabee said. “However, contrary to what the Hollywood media reported, I did not ‘slam’ or ‘attack’ Natalie Portman, nor did I criticize the hardworking single mothers in our country.”