Natalie Portman went to Cannes to premiere her latest film, May-December, and she got a lot of attention for wearing a recreation of Dior’s 1949 Junon gown. In fact, her fashion got so much attention, very few people remarked on the fact that Natalie’s husband, Benjamin Millepied, did not join her on the red carpet in Cannes. I didn’t even mention it because, honestly, they haven’t been joined at the hip in recent years, and I had no reason to think anything was up. Well, something was up. Apparently, Millepied was f–king around on Natalie. With a 25-year-old French woman named Camilla Etienne. Legacy gossip fans remember all too well that Portman and Millepied actually started up while he was living with ballerina Isabella Boylston, and Boylston was quite upset with Millepied’s cheating ways. Portman, in turn, shrugged off the homewrecker title and got pregnant quickly. Twelve years later…

Natalie Portman and her ballet dancer hubby Benjamin Millepied are battling to save their marriage after she discovered that he had an affair with a 25-year-old woman, sources tell Page Six. We’re told the pair, who married in 2012, separated last year but managed to work through their relationship woes. Now their marriage has once again been rocked by revelations that he cheated. New photographs from France suggest that the former New York City Ballet principal dancer has been spending time with glamorous young climate activist Camille Étienne.

And a source close to the couple tells Page Six, “They have not split and are trying to work things out. Ben is doing everything he can to get Natalie to forgive him. He loves her and their family. She is incredibly private. Her biggest focus right now is protecting the kids.”

We hear it was an open secret on the set of Portman’s upcoming movie “May December,” which shot in November over the course of 23 days, that she and Millepied were having problems. And word at the premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this month was that the couple were still on thin ice. Portman, 41, was in the French Riviera city making the promotional rounds, but Millepied, 45, was nowhere to be seen.

A source close to the couple insisted they were still an item at the time. Meanwhile, Portman and Millepied were snapped right after the film fest at a Beyoncé concert in Paris May 26. More photographs showed them kissing while having dinner May 29 in the French city. Then on Friday a new report in French magazine Voici alleged that Millepied has been spending time with Étienne.

“In early March, the star of the ‘Star Wars’ saga discovered that her husband was having an affair with a young woman,” the magazine claimed. The mag has published images of Millepied and Étienne going into his office separately on May 24 and exiting ten minutes apart almost two hours later.

Etienne, a pal of eco superstar Greta Thunberg, has made a number of short films on the environment and written the book “For an Ecological Uprising: Overcoming Our Collective Powerlessness.” She was also reportedly named by French Vanity Fair as one of the “50 French women who made 2020.”

[From Page Six]

When Voici broke the story – complete with the photos mentioned by Page Six – Portman’s people must have run straight to People Magazine, and they basically confirmed big chunks of Voici’s story and Page Six’s summary too. A “source” told People that the affair between Etienne and Millepied “was short-lived and it is over.” A source also said that Benjamin and Natalie remain together and he’s begging for her forgiveness, basically: “He knows he made an enormous mistake and he is doing all he can to get Natalie to forgive him and keep their family together. Natalie is incredibly private and has no intention of playing this out in the media. Her biggest priority is protecting her children and their privacy.”

I’m sorry? Natalie “has no intention of playing this out in the media”? Is that why her peeps ran to People so quickly? Don’t get me wrong, if a French tabloid had my cheating scum husband dead to rights, I would also do damage control (of some sort) to People Magazine. But just acknowledge that you are, in fact, playing it out in the media. As for the affair, the timeline and the fact that Natalie and Benjamin seem to be working through their drama… I’m curious about the reference to a separation last year. Did they separate and he was seeing other women, or was he screwing around and that’s why they separated?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Instar.