Moby and Natalie Portman "Relationship" Dispute

Submission 32,604

Overview

The Moby and Natalie Portman "Relationship" Dispute refers to a series of conflicting account regarding the supposed romantic relationship between American recording artist Moby and actress Natalie Portman. In his memoir, Then It Fell Apart, Moby states that the two shared a romance in 1999. Portman has since denied the account, characterizing Moby as "creepy."

Background

On May 7th, 2019, Moby released his third memoir Then It Fell Apart, an account of his life as a wealthy music star and the debaucherous lifestyle that led to his sobriety.^[1] In the book, Moby states that he and Natalie Portman had a brief romance when he was "33" and she was "20." He writes that the two went to parties in New York City and spent time together while Portman attended Harvard. The two, he writes, would kiss "under the centuries-old oak trees. At midnight she brought me to her dorm room and we lay down next to each other on her small bed. After she fell asleep I carefully extracted myself from her arms and took a taxi back to my hotel."^[2]

About two weeks later, on May 21st, in an interview with Harper's Bazaar,^[3] Portman disputed Moby's telling. She said:

I was surprised to hear that he characterised 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.

He said I was 20; I definitely wasn’t. I was a teenager. I had just turned 18. There was no fact checking from him or his publisher – it almost feels deliberate. That he used this story to sell his book was very disturbing to me. It wasn’t the case. There are many factual errors and inventions. I would have liked him or his publisher to reach out to fact check.

Developments

Moby's Response

On May 22nd, Moby posted on a statement on Instagram ^[4] about Portman's comments. He posted a photograph of the two together from the period and wrote, "I can’t figure out why she would actively misrepresent the truth about our (albeit brief) involvement. The story as laid out in my book Then It Fell Apart is accurate, with lots of corroborating photo evidence, etc." Within 24 hours, the post received more than 26,000 likes (shown below).

I recently read a gossip piece wherein Natalie Portman said that we’d never dated. This confused me, as we did, in fact, date. And after briefly dating in 1999 we remained friends for years. I like Natalie, and I respect her intelligence and activism. But, to be honest, I can’t figure out why she would actively misrepresent the truth about our(albeit brief)involvement. The story as laid out in my book Then It Fell Apart is accurate, with lots of corroborating photo evidence, etc.
Thanks,
Moby

Ps 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

The following day, Moby posted another series of photographs of him and Portman together on Instagram.^[14] He led the series with a post that read "Sincerely, what should I do when people believe accusations and not evidence?" The post received more than 5,300 likes in 24 hours (shown below).

Online Reaction

Many online supported Portman and her account. Twitter^[5] user @Hello_Tailor tweeted, "ewww moby." Within 24 hours, the tweet received more than 180 retweets and 700 likes (shown below, left).

Twitter user @HannaFlint tweeted,^[6] "Hey ladies, how many times have you faked having a boyfriend, or said you'd 'met someone else' to stop a guy trying it on or harassing you? My money is on an 18-year-old Natalie Portman doing this to a 33-year-old Moby." Within 24 hours, the tweet received more than 150 retweets and 560 likes (shown below, center).

Others joked about Portman's response. Twitter^[7] user @pattymo tweeted, "Wild that Moby posted a response to Natalie Portman denying that they ever dated and calling him a creep instead of, say, frantically crawling into the nearest sewer to die, like I’d have done." Within 24 hours, the tweet received more than 45 retweets and 640 likes (shown below, right).

Media Coverage

Several media outlets covered the controversy, including Telegraph,^[8] New York,^[9] The Guardian,^[10] Stereogum,^[11] People^[12] and more.

Parodies

Following Moby's initial Instagram post, some online parodied his defense by posting images of themselves with celebrities and copying his caption that begins "I recently read a gossip piece."

On May 22nd, comedian Rob Delaney tweeted a photograph of himself with Regis Philbin with the caption "I recently read a gossip piece wherein Regis Philbin said that we’d never dated. This confused me, as we did, in fact, date. And after briefly dating in 1999 we remained friends for years. I like Regis, and I respect his intelligence and activism." The tweet received more than 300 retweets and 7,200 likes in 24 hours (shown below, left).

Throughout the day, others followed suit, parodying Moby's post with photographs of themselves with other celebrities (examples below, center and right).