Possible presidential candidate and
conservative celebrity Mike Huckabee has denied he ever described
actress Natalie Portman as a bad role model.
The former Arkansas governor denied he
ever attacked Portman for deciding to become an unwed mother.
Portman, who is engaged to ballet choreographer Benjamin Millepied,
the father of her unborn child, thanked her fiance for “giving
[her] the best role of [her] life” in accepting the best actress
prize for her portrayal of a lesbian ballerina in Director Darren
Aronofsky's much heralded thriller Black Swan at
last Sunday's Academy Awards show.
“People see a Natalie Portman who
boasts, 'We're not married but we're having these children and
they're doing just fine,'” Huckabee said Thursday on The Michael
Medved Show.
“I
think it gives a distorted image. It's unfortunate that we glorify
and glamorize the idea of out-of-wedlock children. Most single moms
are very poor, uneducated, can't get a job, and if it weren't for
government assistance, their kids would be starving to death and
never have health care. And that's the story that we're not seeing.”
In a statement released Friday,
Huckabee suggested the media had gotten the story wrong.
“I was asked about Oscar-winner
Natalie Portman's out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Natalie is an
extraordinary actor, very deserving of her recent Oscar and I am glad
she will marry her baby's father.”
“However, contrary to what the
Hollywood media reported, I did not 'slam' or 'attack' Natalie
Portman, nor did I criticize the hardworking single mothers in our
country,” Huckabee said.
“My comments were about the
statistical reality that most single moms are very poor,
under-educated, can't get a job, and if it weren't for government
assistance their kids would be starving to death. That's the story
that we're not seeing, and it's unfortunate that society often
glorifies and glamorizes the idea of having children out of wedlock.”