Moby Issues Apology to Natalie Portman: 'I Absolutely Should've Acted More Responsibly and Respectfully'

Moby has issued an apology to Natalie Portman after hitting back at her denial that they dated almost two decades ago.

Earlier this week, the Oscar-winning actress told Harpers Bazaar UK she was "surprised" by the way the musician and producer characterized their brief relationship in his book, "Then It Fell Apart," which was released earlier this month. Of the relationship, Portman recalled "a much older man being creepy with me" and said she was disappointed that neither he nor anyone involved with the publishing of the book did any fact-checking on his claims.

Moby immediately hit back at Portman's response, saying it "confused" him because they "did, in fact, date." But now that "some time has passed," he has a different take on the situation.

"As some time has passed, I've realized that many of the criticisms leveled at me regarding my inclusion of Natalie in 'Then It Fell Apart' are very valid," he wrote on Instagram Saturday. "I also fully recognize that it was truly inconsiderate of me to not let her know about her inclusion in the book beforehand, and equally inconsiderate for me to not fully respect her reaction."

"I have a lot of admiration for Natalie, for her intelligence, creativity and animal rights activism, and I hate that I might have caused her and her family distress," he continued. "I tried to treat everyone I included in 'Then It Fell Apart' with dignity and respect, but nonetheless, it was truly inconsiderate for me to not let them know before the book was released."

"So for that, I apologize to Natalie as well as the other people I wrote about in 'Then It Fell Apart' without telling them beforehand," he concluded. "Also, I accept that, given the dynamic of our almost-14-year age difference, I absolutely should've acted more responsibly and respectfully when Natalie and I first met almost 20 years ago."

Moby's tone has changed quite a bit since his initial response to Portman, which occurred Thursday of this week.

"I recently read a gossip piece wherein Natalie Portman said that we'd never dated," he wrote on Instagram. "This confused me, as we did, in fact, date. And after briefly dating in 1999, we remained friends for years. I like Natalie, and I respect her intelligence and activism. But, to be honest, I can't figure out why she would actively misrepresent the truth about our (albeit brief) involvement. The story as laid out in my book, 'Then It Fell Apart,' is accurate, with lots of corroborating photo evidence, etc."

He added, "P.S. I completely respect Natalie's possible regret in dating me (to be fair, I would probably regret dating me, too), but it doesn't alter the actual facts of our brief romantic history."

Moby's lengthy response came shortly after the actress told her version of events to Harpers Bazaar UK, wanting to make it crystal clear that the musician's recollection of their relationship was vastly different from hers.

In his book, Moby claims that Portman was 20 when they met (and he was 33) and that he "tried to be her boyfriend" for a while but felt he wasn't able to do it because of his own issues. He says she broke up with him because she'd met someone new.

That math doesn't quite add up, as Portman is now 37 and Moby is 53, so how does a 13-year gap in his book become a 16-year gap in reality? Plus, Portman insisted she was only 18 when they met.

"I was surprised to hear that he characterized the very short time that I knew him as dating because my recollection is a much older man being creepy with me when I just had graduated high school," Portman told Harpers, adding that they met after one of his shows, where he he suggested, "Let's be friends."

"He was on tour, and I was working shooting a film, so we only hung out a handful of times before I realized that this was an older man who was interested in me in a way that felt inappropriate," she said.

In Moby's book, he writes that she approached him backstage after a show. "I was nervous, so I made small talk," he explains in the book. "'We're going to New York in a few days,' I said. 'For the VMAs.' She smiled again and looked straight into my eyes. 'I'll be in New York, too. Can we meet up?'"

He continues, "I was a bald binge-drinker, and Natalie Portman was a beautiful movie star. But here she was in my dressing room, flirting with me."

While she wasn't willing to come right out and accuse the singer of lying on purpose, Portman did say, "It almost feels deliberate; that he used this story to sell his book was very disturbing to me. It wasn't the case. There are many factual errors and inventions. I would have liked [for] him or his publisher to reach out to fact check."

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