Celebrity Mound

Natalie Portman has a baby boy to go along with her Oscar.

The actress gave birth to her first child with fiance Benjamin Millepied, the choreographer of “Black Swan,” People magazine reported.

The magazine gave no details. A publicist for Portman did not return a message seeking comment Tuesday.

The 30-year-old actress and Millepied, a well-regarded ballet dancer and choreographer, met during the making of “Black Swan,” Darren Aronofsky’s psychological thriller that stars Portman as a ballet dancer.

Portman won the best actress Academy Award in February for her performance in the movie.

According to recent data released by Bing, the decision engine from Microsoft, 56% of users would like to see Natalie Portman win “Best Actress” at next month’s Academy Awards. Meanwhile, 56% of users think Portman’s co-star Mila Kunis was snubbed in the “Supporting Actress” category. “Black Swan” is the favorite “Best Picture” contender amongst 39% of users, just pulling slightly ahead of “Toy Story 3,” which won the hearts of 29% of users.

As everyone thinks about who will be “best dressed” at the awards show, 38% of Bing users predict King’s Speech actress Helena Bonham Carter will be “worst dressed.”

For more of Bing’s Oscar data, including a graphic detailing results, visit: www.discoverbing.com/trends

It’s a busy time for Natalie Portman.

Not only did she recently announce her pregnancy and engagement between promoting new film No Strings Attached, she is now the face of Christian Dior.

A stunning Miss Portman is pictured advertising perfume Miss Dior Cherie wearing nothing but a black headband – but still remains the picture of innocence.

The French fashion house snapped her up earlier this year and the secret was out when she was photographed on set filming the ads in July.

The actress, expecting her first child with choreographer Benjamin Millepied, shot the campaign, due to appear in March, with photographer Tim Walker and also stars in commercials directed by Sophia Coppola.

And the 29-year-old philanthropist has even gotten the iconic label to support some of her charitable causes.

She said: ‘I had an aversion to selling things.

‘And then I realised both that there could be a company that I would be proud to represent, and also that they would really support the things I believe in.

‘It’s really wonderful to have this established, elegant brand willing to do great non-profit work.’

Miss Portman was pictured looking radiant at the premiere of No Strings attached last night, also starring Ashton Kutcher.

They play a couple attempting to keep their relationship purely physical, but begin to develop feelings for each other.

Portman, who lost 20lbs for her role in Black Swan, told Extra at the Palm Springs International Film Festival Saturday: ‘I told director Darren Aronofsky, I was like, “First you got me skinny, and now you’re getting my fat,” because he introduced me to my fiance.

‘It’s the greatest gift he ever gave me.’

The steamy lesbian love scene midway through “Black Swan” might be the key to the thriller’s success – at least, according to Natalie Portman.

The movie’s Golden Globe-nominated star told Entertainment Weekly the racy scene served as a necessary selling point for the critically acclaimed film, which is already garnering plenty of Oscar buzz.

“Everyone was so worried about who was going to want to see this movie,” Portman, 29, revealed to EW. “I remember them being like, ‘How do you get guys to a ballet movie? How do you get girls to a thriller? The answer is a lesbian scene. Everyone wants to see that.”

According to Portman, the dark love scene was the key to drawing both sexes to see the drama, which features Portman as an increasingly unstable ballerina who battles a rival played by 27-year-old Mila Kunis – her partner in that racy sex scene – and her own psychological demons.

But Portman’s convincing portrayal of the troubled ingénue almost sent the actress over the edge in real life.

The physical and emotional stresses of the role took their toll on the actress, who reportedly lost 20 pounds from her already-slender body in pursuit of a rail-thin dancer’s physique.

“There were some nights that I thought I literally was going to die,” Portman recalled. “It was the first time I understood how you could get so wrapped up in a role that it could sort of take you down.”

Fortunately, she seems to be bouncing back from her harrowing role in the film.

Earlier this week Portman announced her engagement to “Black Swan” choreographer and co-star, Benjamin Millepied. She also appears to be recovering physically from the near-anorexic state the film required – in addition to her engagement, the movie star also revealed she is pregnant with Millepied’s child.

You can check out the steamy love scene below:

Natalie Portman might look quite thin as a struggling ballerina in “Black Swan,” but the actress promises she’s nothing but healthy.

“I swear, I eat,” Portman said in Vogue’s January issue, on newsstands Dec. 21. “I consume my own weight in hummus every day. I cook a lot, and I even do vegan baking.”

The actress insists she would “never get to the point where I would starve or injure myself like” like her character, Nina, does in the film.

“I’m the opposite — when I’m hungry, I eat, and I always make sure I’m eating something delicious,” she said.
And Portman, 29, has no shame in admitting she gained weight while attending Harvard, where she graduated in 2003.

“I gained my freshman 15 or 20 and had superdepressed moments,” she recalled. “That Cambridge winter is tough. It was important to know how to go through that and how to get myself out of it. You start learning how to ask your friends or professionals for help, or go to mentors.”

And it’s her friend, Annette Savitch, who helped Portman start a production company, Handsomecharlie, at such a young age.

Portman said the two seek to make women-centric films in the vein of Judd Apatow’s bromance flicks, with the catch that women will be celebrated and not exploited.
“There’s a difference between being in a bra and underpants as an object on a men’s-magazine cover,” she explained, “and playing yourself—a woman with desires and needs who loves and laughs with her friends — in a bra and underpants.”

Whether her projects will succeed remains to be seen, but if they don’t, it won’t be for lack of trying.

“Over the almost 20 years I’ve been working, I’ve been up, I’ve been down, I’ve been in, I’ve been out,” Portman said. “Just getting to do the work is the privilege.”