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Natalie Portman fled Sydney with her family as she boarded a flight back to Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon shortly before new draconian lockdown rules are set to be enforced.
The actress, 40, left Australia after abruptly dropping out of HBO Films’ Days of Abandonment for ‘personal reasons’.
She made the announcement in a statement last week, that came just days after Sydney entered full lockdown for the first time in more than a year to fight the Delta variant.
On Thursday afternoon, the actress and her family were spotted making their way onto a huge aircraft in Sydney, ready for a 14-hour flight back to their home in Los Angeles.
The 40-year-old and her husband Benjamin Millepied had been pictured hours earlier packing up their rented property in Vaucluse, before they took their children Aleph, nine, and Amalia, four, in a limousine to the airport.
And she’s off! Natalie Portman has been spotted boarding a flight with her family back to the US, marking her time in Australia as officially over
Before getting on the plane, Natalie was seen carrying her young daughter in her arms while her husband and son walked ahead in front.
She kept a low-profile in a navy jumper, grey trackpants and a black sun hat, and wore a protective mask on her face.
Filmmaker Benjamin, 44, dressed casually in a black T-shirt, sweatpants, an orange cap and a face mask.
Natalie’s departure comes after she abruptly pulled out of her new movie Days of Abandonment for ‘unforeseen personal reasons’ on August 2.
The move effectively put a stop to production, as the project was left without a lead actress – one day before filming was set to commence.
Heading home: In the pictures, Natalie was seen carrying her young daughter in her arms while her husband and son walked ahead in front
Journey: The 40-year-old and her husband Benjamin Millepied had been pictured hours earlier packing up their home in Vaucluse, before they took their children Aleph, nine, and Amalia, four, in a limousine to the airport
‘Due to unforeseen personal reasons, Natalie Portman has stepped down from HBO’s Days of Abandonment prior to the start of filming,’ HBO said in a statement.
‘Unfortunately, the production will not move forward. We are very sorry we won’t be able to bring this beautiful story to the screen with our talented writer/director and cast.
‘We send our sincere thanks to our cast, producers, and crew for all their passion and hard work.’
Natalie was also set to executive produce the film, based on the best-selling novel by Elena Ferrante.
The film had been in pre-production, and centred around a woman named Tess, who abandoned her own dreams in favour of maintaining a stable home life, only for her husband to walk out on her.
Move: Natalie, her husband and their two children had relocated Down Under in September last year ahead of her filming Thor: Love and Thunder in Sydney
Speculation: There were even rumours the Israeli-born actress was looking to make Australia her permanent home, after she and Benjamin inspected properties in Sydney this year
The Federal Government had committed $3.4million to the project as part of its location incentive program, while Communication Minister Paul Fletcher had said he expected the production to generate more than $25million for the local economy.
While it’s not known what ‘personal reasons’ prevented her from going ahead with the film, Natalie has deleted the majority of posts from her Instagram account.
Natalie, her husband and their two children had relocated Down Under in September last year ahead of her filming Thor: Love and Thunder in Sydney.
There were even rumours the Israeli-born actress was looking to make Australia her permanent home, after she and Benjamin inspected properties in Sydney this year.
However she made a swift return to the States on Thursday, just beating even tighter lockdown rules that are set to come into force.
Some 80 per cent of people living across New South Wales are in lockdown with 6.6 million affected.
According to The Australian, Commissioner Fuller and Police Minister David Elliott told a crisis cabinet meeting on Wednesday afternoon the current health orders are proving difficult to enforce due to a ‘virtually unworkable’ standoff between cops and health officials.
It was reported that some health workers have refused to hand over details of compliance breaches because they felt sorry for some Covid rule-breakers.
Increasingly frustrated by the split, Commissioner Fuller demanded greater powers to tackle Sydney’s climbing case numbers – a move which allegedly infuriated Mr Hazzard as tempers boiled over at the meeting.
NSW Police and their own in-house legal team are now discussing amendments that will enable them to crack down on rule-breakers and breaches in virus hotspots.
New measures include a ban on residents travelling to their second properties, such as beach houses, a bigger ADF presence, and heavier policing of singles bubbles to ensure only two people are coming into contact.
Police hope changing a rule that permits locked-down Sydneysiders to move between residences will stem the spread of Covid into regional areas.
The NSW Government is also expected to request more ADF troops to help oversee the orders.
The announcement came a day after Ms Berejiklian insisted she would not introduce harsher lockdown measures unless they have a proven impact on virus transmission.
There have been mounting calls for tougher measures as infection numbers in NSW have remained stubbornly high despite an increasingly tight lockdown, particularly in Sydney’s west and southwest.
Sydney and surrounds are in lockdown until at least August 28, while the Hunter, Byron Bay, Armidale and Tamworth are enduring snap lockdowns.
Love: Natalie Portman and her husband Benjamin Millepied married in 2012 and share two children together; Aleph, nine, and Amalia, four
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