Star Wars Actress Natalie Portman Reveals the Sentimental Prequels Prop She Took — And Then Lost

Natalie Portman recently revealed the special item she took from the sets of the Star Wars prequels that she starred in as Padmé Amidala — a locket that contained a lock of hair belonging to Anakin Skywalker, her on-screen love played by Hayden Christensen.

“It’s quite iconic,” Portman said of the prop during an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show in early February while playing the “Pop Quiz” segment of Barrymore’s series, where guests reminisce about past roles. “The only problem is I lost it. I don’t know where it is now. I stole it and lost it.”

Portman revealed that Christensen’s hair featured clip-on extensions for his Padawan braids — and that this was the only prop she took, or at least the only one she’s willing to take the blame for. Interestingly enough, Christensen recently admitted he had taken another braid as a keepsake — along with several other items, too.

Christensen has said he took some of Anakin’s hair specifically from the set of 2005’s Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. “Full disclosure: That’s not my real hair,” Christensen noted during Fan Expo New Orleans back in early January, before revealing he also took “a couple of the little Padmé braids from Episode II” and “a couple of other little knick-knacks.”

One of said knick-knacks was a whole lightsaber, which Christensen took home from Australia where they shot Episodes II and III. “I was trying to figure out how to get this one lightsaber back,” he explained at the convention. “So I packaged it up, and I shipped it as a didgeridoo. I told them I bought a didgeridoo, [because] I wanted them to send it back to Canada for me.”

The Star Wars prequel films are all available to stream right now on Disney+.

Image credit: Disney/Lucasfilm

Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.