Natalie Portman's Personal activities and beliefs

Since childhood, Natalie Portman has been a vegetarian, She is an advocate for animal rights. Portman does not eat animal products or wear fur, feathers or leather. "All of my shoes are from Target and Stella McCartney", Natalie says. It has been reported that she will appear alongside actress Elissa Sursara in a PETA PSA to support the groups anti-fur campaign at some point throughout 2009. In 2007, She traveled to Rwanda with Jack Hanna, to film a documentary titled Gorillas on the Brink. Later at a naming ceremony, Natalie named a baby gorilla Gukina, which means 'to play'. In 2007, Natalie Portman launched her own brand of vegan footwear. She has been an advocate of environmental causes since childhood, when she joined an environmental song and dance troupe known as World Patrol Kids.

Natalie Portman has been involved with the 2004 presidential campaign of Democratic candidate John Kerry and with antipoverty activities. In 2004 and 2005 she traveled to Uganda, Guatemala, and Ecuador as the Ambassador of Hope for FINCA International, an organization that promotes micro-lending to help finance women-owned businesses in poor countries. In an interview conducted backstage at the Live 8 concert in Philadelphia and appearing on the PBS program Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria she discussed microfinance. Host Fareed Zakaria said that he was "generally wary of celebrities with fashionable causes", but included the segment with Portman because "she really knew her stuff". In the "Voices" segment of the April 29, 2007, episode of the ABC Sunday Morning Program This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Natalie discussed her work with FINCA and how it can benefit women and their children in third world countries. In the Fall of 2007, Natalie visited several university campuses, including Harvard, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Stanford, Princeton, New York University, and Columbia, to inspire students with the power of microfinance and to encourage them to join the Village Banking Campaign to help families and communities lift themselves out of poverty.

On the concept of the afterlife, Natalie Portman comments "I don't believe in that. I believe this is it, and I believe it's the best way to live." Portman has said that she feels more Jewish in the Holy Land and that she would like to raise her children in the Jewish religion: "A priority for me is definitely that I'd like to raise my kids Jewish, but the ultimate thing is to have someone who is a good person and who is a partner... I get much more Jewish in Israel". Natalie Portman supported Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton for President in the 2008 U.S. elections but said that she "likes Obama as well".

Natalie Portman has had romantic links with actors including Gael Garcia Bernal and Jake Gyllenhaal. In the May 2002 issue of Vogue, she called actor/musician Lukas Haas and musician Moby her close friends. Portman was linked to Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine, but he claims they are friends. Portman reportedly dated Nat Rothschild, of the famous multi-billionaire banking family. After starring in the video for his song "Carmensita", Natalie Portman began dating Venezuelan folk singer Devendra Banhart.