Natalie Portman returns to the US

IT’S official – Natalie Portman has fled Sydney.

The Jewish actress was photographed packing up her Vaucluse rental home and ferrying her young family to the airport and on to a private jet just days before Sydney’s lockdown rules were tightened earlier this month.

It follows her withdrawal from the film Days of Abandonment, which was to have begun filming at Sydney’s Fox Studios, for “personal reasons” in early August.

“We are very sorry we won’t be able to bring this beautiful story to the screen with our talented writer/director and cast. We send our sincere thanks to our cast, producers, and crew for all their passion and hard work,” HBO said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter upon her withdrawal.

While clearer reasons have not been forthcoming about the Israeli-born beauty’s sudden change of heart – she and husband Benjamin Millepied had been looking to buy property here amidst rumours they were looking to settle permanently – one cannot help but speculate that Sydney’s delta outbreak and subsequent locking down may be to blame.

She has since been spotted back home in Los Angeles, hiking with son Aleph, a burly-looking bodyguard and fluffy white dog.