Spoonbat linked to this Showbiz report that had Natalie commenting on the Sean Penn rumours. I thought it was quite a big deal until I saw that the quote came from the Marie Claire interview…and interview that I had read at the time, but somehow managed to completely skip over that section. To be fair, when new interviews are published I pretty much just skim the text for my name and the word “boobs”.

In any case, if anyone else missed it, Natalie’s comments about Sean Penn are after the jump.

Portman did, exceptionally, make the tabloids last year for a rumored make-out session with Sean Penn behind a curtain at a Los Angeles hotel. When I raise the subject, she manages to look both amused and mortified. “He’s obviously someone I’m friends with,” she says. “I mean, not ‘hey, wassup?’ friends, but we were all on the [Cannes 2008] jury together—Alfonso [Cuarón] and Marjane [Satrapi]—and we had a really great time, and then…It was one of those things where you’re like, ‘Oh, my God! I’m that person who’s caught in this shitty rumor brigade.’ You can’t win. You don’t say anything and everyone’s like, ‘It’s true.’ You say something, and you’re keeping the story alive. It’s bad, bad news.”

Read the full interview over here.