Moby says Natalie Portman dating claim was a ‘banal’ part of his book

Musician was criticised after stating in his 2019 memoir that he had dated the actor, a claim she denied

Moby has reflected on the controversy surrounding his claims that he dated Natalie Portman in his 2019 memoir.

The musician was criticised after stating in his book, Then It Fell Apart, that he had dated Portman, a claim she denied.

Portman told Harper’s Bazaar she recalled “a much older man being creepy with me”, adding: “He said I was 20; I definitely wasn’t. I was a teenager. I had just turned 18.”

Moby, who is 16 years older than Portman, later apologised for behaving “inconsiderately and disrespectfully”.

He has now told PA news agency: “It got a lot of attention, but it was, just in terms of page count, an incredibly minor... banal part of the book. But the world we live in is that’s what people prioritised.

“Actual in-person relations are a lot more nuanced and probably not well represented by... the sort of quick 120-character media.”

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A new documentary featuring Moby’s struggles with addiction and depression is set for release, that the artist hopes will help counter any “misrepresentation” of who he really is.

The film, Moby Doc, includes discussion of his father’s suicide and his own problems with alcohol and the darker aspects of fame.

At one point in the film, he details how he slept through his mother’s funeral because he was “in bed, drunk, passed out”.

“I’ve appreciated other public figures who’ve attempted to be honest, or who’ve been willing to be honest,” he told PA.

“Not even public figures, but just humans, friends of mine, or people I meet at AA [Alcoholics Anonymous] meetings, who are actually willing to be vulnerable, willing to be honest, and willing to openly discuss the things that so many people are either ashamed of, or work so hard to hide,” he continued.

“We live in a culture where there’s so much misrepresentation, you know, misrepresentation of who we are.”

The documentary, featuring interviews with Moby’s close friend David Lynch, will be released on 28 May alongside Reprise, a new orchestral album reimagining some of the biggest hits of his career.

As well as a string of reworked classics such as “Porcelain” and “Natural Blues”, Moby’s new album includes a tribute to friend David Bowie in the form of a stripped-back cover of “Heroes” – a track he loved as a child and later performed alongside his hero on his own sofa.

“It was just one of the most special moments of my life, not even professionally, but personally and spiritually, to sit with my favourite musician of all time and play a delicate version of my favourite song of all time,” he said.

Moby and David Bowie perform in 2002 in Burbank, California (Getty Images)

Unusually for Moby, the record features no electronics and gives control over orchestration to Hungary’s Budapest Art Orchestra, a process he said was liberating.

“There are few things more personally or professionally satisfying then being a control freak and handing some part of the process over to another person and realising that they’re so much better at it than you are or than I am,” he said.

Reprise is released on 28 May on Deutsche Grammophon/Decca Records.

Additional reporting by PA