Natalie Portman praises director Mike Nichols: 'I think he was a genuine feminist'

Natalie Portman came forth spilling the beans on her experience of working with film directors who exploit actresses for showing their skin.

Opening up about the ordeal of working with male mentors, Portman said she has only collaborated with one who was not 'creepy.'

In a new book about Mike Nichols, titled Mike Nichols: A Life, the starlet went into detail about the famed director.

"I think he was a genuine feminist," Portman said of Nichols. "There was nothing, nothing, nothing there except him seeing you as a creative, interesting, talented human. It is the rarest, finest quality, and not many directors of his generation had it."

She added that Nichols was "the only older man who mentored me without there ever being a creepy element in it."

The Closer actress met Nichols when she was just 19 and worked with him in a Central Park production of The Seagull alongside Meryl Streep and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. They worked together again in 2004's Closer.

In a scene where Portman had to strip in a night club, Nichols made sure she is entirely comfortable.

"[Nichols] made sure [Portman] was comfortable with the angles, the costumes, and the movement, and walked her through the scene until she felt ready. 'What he did for me ... ' she said. 'Lord, may I have that ability to offer that kind of mentorship and guidance to one other person.'