Natalie recalls being sexualised as a child

In an exclusive conversation, Hollywood actor Natalie Portman opened up about her experience as a child actor as she remembered the many times when she was sexualised by her peers.

Speaking on Dax Shepard's podcast 'Armchair Expert', the 39-year-old actor clearly admitted that she used to be afraid at times because of that experience.

"I was definitely aware of the fact that I was being portrayed as this 'Lolita' figure," shared the 'Thor' star.

Portman added, "I think that being sexualised as a child took away my own sexuality because it made me afraid and it made me like the way I could be safe was to be like, 'I'm conservative,' and 'I'm serious and you should respect me,' and 'I'm smart,' and 'do not look at me that way'."

"Whereas at that age, you do have your own sexuality and you do have your own desire and you do want to explore things and you do want to be open. But you do not

feel safe necessarily when there are older men that are interested and you are like, 'No, no, no, no'," shared Natalie.

She further revealed that because of the attention, she started to build walls.

"So many people had this impression of me that I was super serious and conservative and I realised that I had consciously cultivated that because it was always to make me feel safe."

"When I was in my teens I was like, 'I do not want to have any love scenes or make-out scenes.' It made me worried about the way I was perceived and how safe I felt."