Inside Natalie Portman’s Fresh Start After She Was ‘Crushed’ by Benjamin Millepied’s Behavior (Exclusive)

Natalie Portman is “still hurt” after Benjamin Millepied’s affair, but Us Weekly insiders say she’s getting a fresh start in 2024.

“She didn’t give up on [her marriage] lightly,” a source exclusively reveals in the latest issue of Us. “But it became pretty apparent toward the end of last year that her heart had gone out of it.”

A second insider notes that “Natalie and Ben actually started having problems over a year ago.” Millepied, 46, “would sometimes not return home and was taking work trips that didn’t add up,” the source says, adding that Portman, 42, “began to suspect infidelity.”

The May December actress “was humiliated and utterly crushed by Benjamin’s behavior,” the second source claims, explaining that Portman is now “taking time to focus on herself.”

Us confirmed in August 2023 that Portman and Millepied separated after 11 years of marriage. Their split came after rumors swirled in June 2023 that Millepied was having an affair with 25-year-old climate activist Camille Étienne.

While Portman initially stuck by her estranged spouse, she seemingly hinted at the breakup earlier this month when she told The Wall Street Journal that she “lives in Paris with her two children” but didn’t mention Millepied.

When Portman stepped out at the 2024 Governors Awards on January 9, she appeared to be in a new relationship era. The actress was noticeably not wearing her wedding ring.

Related: Natalie Portman and Benjamin Millepied’s Relationship Timeline

Portman “looked the other way for a long time,” the second source tells Us, sharing that the Oscar winner’s friends “told her, ‘You lose him how you get him,’” referring to how the estranged spouses first met. Millepied reportedly left his live-in girlfriend, Isabella Boylston, to hook up with Portman after they started to work together on the set of 2010’s Black Swan.

“Benjamin is so charming and eloquent — he really casts a spell on women. He has a power of drawing people in,” the insider says. That charm worked on Portman who married the choreographer in 2012. The pair went on to welcome son Aleph, 12, and daughter Amalia, 6.

Their relationship, however, came to an end in August 2023, which is when “Natalie decided to leave him” and within weeks had “moved out,” the second source shares. “Even though she has been living with the kids apart from him, he’s still very much in their lives,” the insider says.

The Star Wars actress suspects “Ben has been cheating on her for many years,” the insider claims to Us, but above all Portman “wants to keep the peace for the sake of their family, so she is being very civil.”

After a rocky year, Portman is looking toward the future and keeping herself busy with work and sticking close to her inner circle. “She’s incredibly smart and philosophical about everything she does, but at the end of the day, she’s a realist who isn’t going to stick around trying to save something that’s unfixable,” the first insider explains, adding that Portman “gave this marriage her best shot.”