Natalie Portman reveals her first kiss was with queer boy at theatre camp

Hollywood superstar Natalie Portman has revealed that her first kiss was with a boy during a theatre camp – and that he came out a year after they locked lips.

The 42-year-old Hollywood star recently appeared in Todd Haynes’ May December which landed her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy. But all great artists have their origin story, and Portman is finally opening up about the days she spent in theatre camps during her school holidays.

In an interview for W Magazine’s Best Performances, Portman shared an all too familiar coming-of-age experience for aspiring thespians.

When asked to tell the tale of her first kiss, Portman replied: “At summer camp, on a dare.

“It was theater camp, so he came out the next year.”

She’s not the first celebrity to admit a theater camp faux pas in recent months. Ben Platt, who co-wrote the 2023 mockumentary Theater Camp with his childhood best friend Molly Gordon, shared a similar incident from their youth.

“She definitely had a crush on me, she will admit,” he told Rolling Stone.

“And I thought I did too. Because when you’re a young gay kid, and you’re obsessed with your girl best friend, you’re like, ‘This must be what it means when you like someone’.”

But it all soon came out. “We were doing How to Succeed [in Business Without Really Trying],” Platt continued. “And we were like, 12 or 13. And she was like, ‘Who do you like? You have to like someone in the show.’ And I’m like, ‘I’m gay.’ And she was like, ‘oh’.”

As for Portman, she’s gone on to make an impact within the LGBTQ+ community. In 2018, she caused a stir after donning a cap with the words “Make America Gay Again” while speaking up for women’s rights.

Meanwhile in May December Portman plays film actress Elizabeth planning to portray lead character Gracie (Julianne Moore) in a film recounting the tabloid scandal twenty years earlier, where the then-36-year-old groomed her now-husband Joe (Charles Melton) when he was only 13.

Praised for their electric chemistry, Portman has previously opened up about the “inherent queerness” of the dynamic between Elizabeth and Gracie.

“I think a lot of queerness, as far as I understand it, also has to do with stepping out of prescribed societal boundaries that are imposed upon you,” Portman told Attitude magazine.

“I think both of these characters, both of these women, are so intent on writing their own narratives. Declaring their own identity. Creating their own story. That’s really this dynamic between them – there is that inherent queerness to it.”