Made a mistake: Natalie Portman apologises for comment on Jessica Simpson's bikini snaps

Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman admitted she 'made a mistake' by bringing up actor-singer Jessica Simpson`s bikini-clad magazine cover from 1999 while talking about women being sexualised in the music industry during the late nineties.

"I would never want to shame anyone and I fully respect her and her choices. I was talking about the confusion I felt as a young girl seeing the messages that I felt the media was sending out to young girls about very specific ways we should be. I made a mistake to say a name. It was absolutely not directed at her. I feel bad that she was hurt," Portman said in an interview to People magazine.

The `Annihilation` star`s apology comes after Simpson called out to her for saying that she was 'confused' by the latter`s picture on the cover of a magazine saying, `I`m a virgin` while wearing a bikini. "And I was confused. Like, I don`t know what this is trying to tell me as a woman, as a girl," Portman had said in an interview with USA Today recently.

Disappointed by Portman`s comment, Simpson took to social media to post a note asking the former not to shame women on the basis of their choices.