'A literary assassination': How Life of M sparked a Hollywood scandal

Controversy is swirling around Rachel Cusk's new novel about a movie star named "M". Why the fuss – and could the character be based on Natalie Portman?

From Truman Capote mining the secrets of his high society friends for his writing to The Devil Wears Prada's Miranda Priestly bearing a striking similarity to Vogue's Anna Wintour, there's always a certain excitement in discovering that a literary character might not be entirely fictional – especially when their rumoured inspiration is a public figure. 

The new novel by Rachel Cusk, Life of M, tells the story of a fictional actor, "M", some of whose biographical details bear an uncanny resemblance to those of real-life film star Natalie Portman. 

Anticipation for the new novel was already high – "a blazing interrogation of fame, power, beauty and truth," said its publisher. Cusk is one of contemporary fiction's most celebrated and boundary pushing writers, and so a new book by her is always an event. But interest soon spilled beyond the literary world when the seeming Portman connection was made.

Cusk is known for taking no prisoners in her prose – she is unsentimental in her work and depicts human frailty with a cold, clinical eye. So the book was never going to be an empathetic look at the life of a film star – and sure enough, reports appeared suggesting the actress was unhappy with Cusk's portrayal. By the time the book came out last week, countless stories had been published speculating on what really went on between the pair, most of them pure speculation and gossip.

Inevitably, that gossip has turned the book into one of this year's most talked about novels. But what's the real story behind it?

Why all the controversy?

In July, several weeks before Cusk's latest novel Life of M was due to be published, culture journalist Valerie Stivers wrote an article for the website Unherd claiming that the book, about a famous actress whose life is depressingly hollow and devoid of emotion, was "a dark portrait of Natalie Portman" and that the actress was less than happy with the result.

Stivers wrote: "No one in her right mind who understood Rachel Cusk's work would allow her to write about her." It immediately sparked chatter about whether Portman – known to be a big fan of Cusk's writing – had at some point agreed for her life to be used by the author. Or had Cusk co-opted Portman's experiences without her permission? And if she had, did that matter?

The plot thickened when further details of the book emerged. We learned Life of M features two main protagonists – a nameless (and genderless) writer and a famous movie actress, M. "A little while ago, I told the actor M that I was thinking of writing her autobiography," begins the book. "She liked the idea. "Much later in the book, M is unhappy, telling the writer: "I don't like the way you portray me… Actually, it's hurtful." But is this whole set-up pure fiction, or did an exchange like this really take place between Cusk and Portman?

Both women live in Paris and their paths have crossed. Portman has twice selected Cusk's novels for her book club, interviewed the writer and stated she is "forever in awe of Rachel Cusk and the way she disrupts form and the conventions of storytelling". However, a source told Vanity Fair that they've never had "much of a relationship at all."

A 'literary assassination' of Portman

In an interview with the........

© BBC