Natalie Portman said meeting Rihanna was a ‘formative moment’ for her while going through a divorce on Monday’s episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
‘I think everyone going through a divorce should get Rihanna to say to her that she’s a bad b****,’ Natalie said. ‘It was exactly what I needed.’
Natalie Portman, 43, and ex-husband Benjamin Millepied, 47, were married for 11 years and their divorce was finalized this past March. Jimmy, 49, shared a video of Rihanna hugging Natalie in January during Paris Fashion Week and telling her that she was ‘one of the hottest b****es in Hollywood.’
‘Are you kidding me?’ Natalie Portman replied to Rihanna.
‘It was a formative moment in my life,’ Natalie said to Jimmy after watching the video.
The Oscar-winning actress, wearing a black strapless crystal embellished dress, appeared on the NBC talk show to promote her new Apple TV+ miniseries ‘Lady in the Lake’.
Natalie Portman portrays Maddie Schwartz, a Jewish housewife in 1960s Baltimore, who leaves her husband of 20 years and her teenage son behind and helps the police investigate the brutal murder of an 11-year-old girl. The seven-part series is an adaptation of Laura Lippman’s 2019 book titled ‘Lady in the Lake’.
The actress, who lives in Paris, also gave Jimmy tips on how to not look like a tourist in Paris when he visits for the upcoming Olympics.
‘No flip flops,’ Natalie said. ‘No shorts. You know it’s an American if they are wearing shorts. Red berets.’
‘It’s cool?’ Jimmy said.
‘It’s a no go,’ Natalie said.
Jimmy asked her about playing a cartoon character in an episode of Bluey.
‘I love Bluey and so do my kids,’ Natalie said.
Jimmy pointed out that she also played Darcy in The Simpsons. He asked her to pick her favorite cartoon character out of the two of them.
‘That’s really like choosing between children,’ Natalie said.
Jimmy played a clip from her new show Lady in the Lake. He asked her if she had any tips for visiting Baltimore. She said because she was vegan she couldn’t try the crab cakes but that they had a vegan option.
‘There’s a lot of great places,’ Natalie said. ‘I was sad, I’m vegan so I couldn’t try the crab cakes but that’s the thing there. But they do have vegan crab cakes at all the vegan restaurants, which is very exciting.’
Natalie also played a game of Catchphrase with Jimmy Fallon against Tariq Trotter from the Roots and Julio Torres from Fantasmas. Tariq and Julio’s team ended up winning the game.
Lady in the Lake is set to premiere on Friday on the Apple TV+ streaming service.