The Hollywood Reporter picked up on an article written by Valerie Stivers for Unherd yesterday, in which the journalist claims that Rachel Cusk‘s new book, titled Life of M, could be a “dark portrait” of Natalie Portman. According to the article, Natalie is a big fan of Cusk (which is true: one of her books was featured in Natalie’s book club a couple of years ago) and a good friend of the author as well (which we don’t know if it’s true) and, according to the reporter, Natalie may not be “flattered” with the portrayal of her literary mirror in Cusk’s book.

The novel, set for an Aug. 25, 2026 release and available for pre-order, centers on a famous actress, M, and a writer tapped to chronicle her life amid the glamor of olive groves, beaches and from behind the tinted windows of limousines.

“The movie star M is one of the most recognizable faces of our time. Her image is everywhere. It has been like that since she was a child. With such fame, her life has the appearance of freedom: people are instantly obliging, spaces are altered to accommodate her, time can be rearranged. M may live in the same places as real people. She may meet her friends or collect her children from school or walk her dogs as they do. But it seems the rules of reality have melted away,” a synopsis from Macmillan Publishers, which is releasing Cusk’s next novel in the U.S. market, states on its website.

We don’t know how accurate this article is, so we’ll have to wait for the book’s publication to know for sure. For now, Natalie, who is just weeks away from the birth of her third child, hasn’t mentioned the topic on her social media.