Natalie Portman Tells ‘The View’ How She Explained “The Patriarchy” To Her 7-Year-Old Daughter

It’s been one year since Barbie was released in theaters — and the Greta Gerwig-directed film is still sparking conversations. On this morning’s episode of The View, guest Natalie Portman revealed how the movie helped her explain the “patriarchy” to her seven-year-old daughter.

Portman, who is close friends with Gerwig, told the co-hosts that she brought her daughter Amalia to the opening night of Barbie last year. The Oscar-nominated film follows Margot Robbie‘s Barbie as she travels from Barbieland, a place where women run the roost, to the real world, which is quite the opposite.

“[Amalia] loved it so much and afterward, she was like, ‘Mommy, what’s the patriarchy?'” Portman recalled. “I called Greta and I was like, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you for opening this conversation for me with my child.'”

The actress then revealed how she responded to her daughter’s question.

“I was like, ‘You know how in Barbieland, women do all the roles? That’s a matriarchy. You know how the real world, that’s not the case? That’s the patriarchy,'” she explained.

Portman, who is a longtime advocate for women’s rights, also opened up about her decision to found a women’s soccer team in Los Angeles.

“My son’s really into soccer and I saw him watching the women’s World Cup with as much fervor as the men’s World Cup and I thought, ‘Oh, wow. If little boys grow up looking up to female athletes, what a different culture we would have,'” she said. “Of course, little girls, obviously. But when you see boys looking up to female athletes, that’s when you feel an entire culture shift.”

The star noted that women and men have the “starkest pay inequity,” with many male athletes making millions of dollars, while women athletes are forced to work other jobs in their off-seasons to make ends meet.

“We were like, OK, women’s World Cup is really popular. But the home teams — most people don’t even know they exist,” she said. “What if we just blast the spotlight on home teams and the home league?”

Portman ultimately founded Angel City FC in 2020, which has since become “an enormous success.”

The View airs on weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.