Natalie Portman Admits She Swiped a Special Star Wars Memento — Then Lost It

Natalie Portman has a habit of leaving sets with souvenirs. The latest reminder: she once snagged a Star Wars keepsake that fans would absolutely clock on sight... and then it vanished somewhere in her real-life junk drawer.

The souvenir she swiped (and lost)

On a recent stop by The Drew Barrymore Show, Portman said she walked off the prequels with one of Anakin Skywalker’s Padawan braids — the clip-on kind used during filming, not anything tied to her own character, Padme.

"I took one of Anakin’s braids. They had these little clip-on [braids]. It’s quite iconic. The only problem is I lost it. I don’t know where it is now. I stole it and then lost it."

It’s the sort of confession that makes every prop master twitch. Also: perfect celebrity-owns-nothing energy.

She has told this story before

• May 2025: On ITV’s This Morning, while promoting Fountain of Youth, she said she grabbed the braid at the end of shooting. There were plenty of them on set; she took one. It’s gone now.
• Around the same time on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, she casually mentioned another five-finger discount: a monogrammed lighter from Jackie.

Quick Padme refresher

Portman played Padme Amidala across the Star Wars prequel trilogy, starting with Episode I – The Phantom Menace in 1999. She shared the screen with Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn, and Ian McDiarmid as Senator Palpatine. The part rocketed her worldwide, even if she wasn’t fully prepared for the scale of the fandom back then.

"I really wasn't aware of how big a deal Star Wars was... And when I saw the films, I really liked them, but I still didn't really understand how many were passionate fans of this film."

So yes: she took Anakin’s braid. Yes: it was iconic. And yes: it’s now somewhere between a memory and a mystery box in storage. Very on brand.