Hollywood’s favorite Harvard grad might be facing her ultimate roman à clef nightmare. According to a new report from The Hollywood Reporter, literary circles are buzzing that Rachel Cusk’s upcoming novel, Life of M (dropping August 25, 2026), is a thinly-veiled, deeply unflattering portrait of her real-life friend… Natalie Portman.
The Quick Dirt:
The Plot: The book follows a famous former child star named “M” living a gilded, reality-warping life. A writer enters her inner circle to chronicle her life, unleashing a toxic power dynamic.
The Receipts: “M” shares uncanny biographical details with Portman (including the Paris connection). Insiders who read advance copies claim the book ends with the actress feeling utterly sickened and betrayed by the final manuscript—which reportedly mirrors Natalie’s actual real-life reaction to Cusk’s book.
The Irony: Back in 2021, Natalie publicly hyped Cusk’s Outline Trilogy, praising her for showing how “you can know much about a protagonist through the people around them.” Well, look out the window sadly, girl, because she certainly looked at you!
ONTD veterans know this isn’t Natalie’s first time getting burned trying to be a literary muse.
Cast your minds back to 2016 and that legendary, painfully pretentious New York Times T Magazine email feature between Natalie and author Jonathan Safran Foer.
The long-standing industry gossip was that JSF allegedly blew up his marriage to author Nicole Krauss because he convinced himself that he and Natalie were digital soulmates over email. When he finally showed his hand, Natalie shot him down. The resulting T Magazine piece was pure awkward damage control, featuring JSF writing longing paragraphs while Natalie aggressively name-dropped her then-husband and casually mused: “An ex-boyfriend of mine used to call me ‘Moscow,’ because he said I was always looking out the window sadly…”
Looks like Natalie traded the guy who treated her like a Chekhov character for a woman who just dissected her like a clinical lab rat. As the leaks warn: “A Cusk book about you is never going to be flattering.”
