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Portman’s hubby adopts Judaism

French choreographer Benjamin Millepied says he loves Israel and wants to make it a second home

Natalie Portman and husband Ben Millepied (photo credit: Featureflash / Shutterstock.com)
Natalie Portman and husband Ben Millepied (photo credit: Featureflash / Shutterstock.com)

Benjamin Millepied, the choreographer husband of A-list actress Natalie Portman, is working on converting to Judaism, Millepied told an Israeli daily on Wednesday.

The couple, along with their son Aleph, are in Israel for a multi-week visit while Portman works on her directorial debut, a film adaptation of Amos Oz’s classic “A Tale of Love and Darkness.”

In a rare interview with Yedioth Ahronoth — the power couple are notoriously private about their personal affairs — Millepied was quoted as saying that he was “in the middle of the conversion process… I hope that soon it will come to an end and I will become a Jew.”

Becoming Jewish is “very important for me,” he added.

There was no mention of which Jewish denomination was overseeing his conversion process.

Portman and Millepied, who met in 2010 on the set of the movie “Black Swan,” for which Millepied provided the choreography, were married in 2012 in a Jewish ceremony in California.

Millepied, who is due to become director of dance at the Paris Opera Ballet later this year, said that he loves Israel and envisioned the country becoming a second home after the couple relocates to Paris.

It seems Millepied’s interest in his wife’s background is reciprocated. Portman, who was born in Jerusalem to an American mother and an Israeli father and has maintained strong ties to the Jewish state, has said in interviews that she wishes to learn French and possibly obtain French citizenship.

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