Natalie Portman says she isn’t cozying up to Sean Penn.

“Sean Penn is a friend and colleague,” the actress, 27, said*. “The reports that we are romantically involved are completely untrue.”

Tabloid Star magazine claimed that Penn, 48 — who recently filed for legal separation from his wife of 13 years, Robin Wright Penn — and Portman were “making out” at West Hollywood’s Sunset Tower Hotel in March.

The New York Post reported today the pair have been “cavorting.”

But Portman continues: “I normally do not respond to rumors about my private life, however, this repeatedly fabricated story has forced me to do so.”

Both Penn and Portman served on the jury of the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.

Penn — who won his second Best Actor Oscar for his role in Milk earlier this year — initially filed for divorce from Wright Penn, 43, in 2007, but his petition was later dismissed. Three days later, she filed her own paperwork. In April 2008, the couple’s divorce petition was dismissed at their request.

Portman split from indie rocker Devendra Banhart last September after four months of dating.

(source)

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