Musician Moby reportedly claimed what he wrote about Natalie Portman in his memoir did actually happen, despite the actress’s previous denial.
Moby wrote in his memoir back in 2019 that after meeting Portman, the two went on a few dates, as previously reported. At the time, Portman denied the interaction ever happened, however, Moby told the Guardian, during an interview published Monday, that what he wrote was true.
Moby says there’s ‘no good way to answer’ questions about Natalie Portman scandal https://t.co/uOu9NGVlCQ
— The Independent (@Independent) April 13, 2021
“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 when I just had graduated high school,” Portman told Harper’s Bazaar after the memoir was released. (RELATED: Natalie Portman Denies Dating Moby, Calls Him ‘Creepy’ Older Man)
“When we met after the show, he said, ‘let’s be friends,'” she told the magazine. “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.”
Moby had written that Portman was 20 years old at the time the two allegedly dated, although Portman later claimed she was 18.
Moby told the Guardian that he wished he had never written the memoir.
“Er … yeah,” Moby reportedly told the outlet when asked if what he wrote was accurate as he recalled it. “You know, you’re asking me to open up such a can of worms. It reminds me of my favourite chess move, which my uncle taught me, where you move your knight so that it puts the king in check but also is going to take the castle.”
“There’s no good way to answer: one option is terrible, the other is really terrible,” Moby said. “So if we were playing chess right now, this is the part where I’d pick up my phone and pretend I’ve got an emergency call.”
The musician previously publicly apologized to Portman after her denial.
“I apologize, to Natalie, as well as the other people I wrote about in ‘Then It Fell Apart’ without telling them beforehand,” Moby said at the time. “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.”