Natalie Portman Will Miss The Oscars Tonight Due to Pregnancy

First Beyonce drops out of Coachella, now Natalie Portman is also staying home, and will not attend the Oscars due to pregnancy concerns.

Last night at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, there were a few high profile no-shows in the Best Actress category. One of them was Natalie Portman, who is also nominated tonight for her performance as Jackie Kennedy in the biopic film Jackie.

Portman, who is expecting her second child with husband Benjamin Millepied, was clearly already deep into her second trimester during her January awards red carpet appearances last month. Portman was already an old hand at red carpet maternity wear, as she was expecting her first child during the awards run up to Black Swan. But she was not as far along then, and apparently this time, it’s just a bit much for her.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Portman’s publicist contacted them when it became obvious she wasn’t going to be arriving at the Spirit Awards.

"“Due to my pregnancy, I am unable to attend the Independent Spirit Awards and the Academy Awards,” said Portman in a statement. “I feel so lucky to be honored among my fellow nominees and wish them the most beautiful of weekends.”"

Portman might have made the effort this weekend if she thought she was going to win. When she showed up pregnant in 2014, her turn in Black Swan was heavily favored to take the Best Actress category, and she had won several trophies during the run up to her first Oscar. This time the odds are not so much in her favor. According to betting websites, Emma Stone is heavily favored this evening for her performance in La La Land with 2-11 odds. Whereas Portman’s turn in Jackie is only given 33-1 odds. Not the worst (Ruth Negga, for instance, is running at 80-1 odds) but far back enough that Portman can feel relatively safe in staying home and no one feeling embarrassed she wasn’t there to accept a tiny little gold dude if they called her name.

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Besides, Portman is only so so at the Maternity red carpet game anyway. Best that she not risk not winning, and winding up on Worst Dressed Lists to boot.