Moby enjoys a low-key lunch date with muse Julie Mintz in LA amid controversy surrounding tell-all memoir
Moby is pictured out with his longtime muse Julie Mintz in Los Angeles amid the backlash from his revealing new memoir.
The 53-year-old singer/songwriter wore dark layers as he was spotted strolling with the beautiful blonde musician after a lunch date.
The grey-haired Natural Blues hitmaker sported a black hoodie and padded jacket and covered his head in a white baseball cap.
Out and about: Moby is pictured out on Sunday with his longtime muse Julie Mintz amid the controversy surrounding his recently released memoir
Mintz, 41, matched him with dark hues and covered her head in a black fiddler cap.
Julie met the popular musician and activist over a decade ago and the two have worked together ever since. Moby produced her EP The Thin Veil and went on to help her complete her first full studio album.
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The outing came after Moby publicly apologized to Natalie Portman after boasting about his relationship with the then 18-year-old in his memoir Then It All Fell Apart.
The actress had contested the nature of their past relationship, and described him as a 'creepy old man,'.
Moby initially doubled down on his recollection instead of apologizing.
The 53-year-old songwriter appeared to be in a serious mood as he chatted to his friend Julie after a lunch outing in Los Angeles
In his apology, posted on Instagram on Saturday, he said he accepted he was wrong for including their so-called relationship in the book without giving her forewarning, and that, given the 14-year age gap between the pair, he admitted he should have 'acted more responsibly and respectfully' when they first met in Austin, Texas in 1999.
'As some time has passed I've realized that many of the criticisms leveled at me regarding my inclusion of Natalie in Then It Fell Apart are very valid,' he wrote, continuing, 'I also fully recognize that it was truly inconsiderate of me to not let her know about her inclusion in the book beforehand, and equally inconsiderate for me to not fully respect her reaction.
But, he said, 'I have a lot of admiration for Natalie, for her intelligence, creativity, and animal rights activism, and I hate that I might have caused her and her family distress.'
Low key outing: The grey-haired Natural Blues hitmaker sported a black hoodie and padded jacket and covered his head in a white baseball cap
'I tried to treat everyone I included in Then It Fell Apart with dignity and respect, but nonetheless it was truly inconsiderate for me to not let them know before the book was released,' The Porcelain singer added, saying 'So for that I apologize, to Natalie, as well as the other people I wrote about in Then It Fell Apart without telling them beforehand. Also I accept that given the dynamic of our almost 14 year age difference I absolutely should've acted more responsibly and respectfully when Natalie and I first met almost 20 years ago.'
His apology comes days after he made it clear he believed they were dating, despite the age difference.
He said at the time: 'I recently read a gossip piece wherein Natalie Portman said that we'd never dated. This confused me, as we did, in fact, date.
'And after briefly dating in 1999 we remained friends for years. I like Natalie, and I respect her intelligence and activism.
Controversy: The lunch date came amid backlash for some of the content in his new memoir Then It Fell Apart
Awkward: Moby publicly apologized to Natalie Portman after boasting about his relationship with the then 18-year-old in his memoir Then It All Fell Apart
'But, to be honest, I can't figure out why she would actively misrepresent the truth about our (albeit brief) involvement.
'Ps I completely respect Natalie's possible regret in dating me (to be fair, I would probably regret dating me, too), but it doesn't alter the actual facts of our brief romantic history.'
Earlier in the week, Portman told Harper's Bazaar: 'I was surprised to hear that he characterized the very short time that I knew him as dating because my recollection is a much older man being creepy with me when I just had graduated high school.'
It's too late to apologize: In his apology, posted on Instagram on Saturday, he said he accepted he was wrong for including their so-called relationship in the book without giving her forewarning, and that, given the 14-year age gap between the pair, he admitted he should have 'acted more responsibly and respectfully' when they first met in Austin, Texas in 1999 (posted May 25)
'He said I was 20. I definitely wasn't. I was a teenager. I had just turned 18,' she added.
The mother-of-two also criticized the Moby's publisher for not checking the facts of the story, saying she thought it was a 'deliberate' attempt to sell books and called it 'disturbing'.
In his memoir, Moby has also claimed to have dated Christina Ricci and Lana del Rey.
Of Lana, Moby recalled hoping for a night of 'vodka and sex' with the up-and-coming artist who was going by the name Lizzy Grant in 2006 but she refused his advances telling him she'd heard rumors about his promiscuity.
Earlier in the week, Natalie Portman told Harper's Bazaar: 'I was surprised to hear that he characterized the very short time that I knew him as dating because my recollection is a much older man being creepy with me when I just had graduated high school' (pictured in Los Angeles on April 25)
'She was beautiful, smart, and charming; making plans to meet up with her was both what I wanted to do and what my new therapist had told me to do,' he wrote of the then 21-year-old singer.
They made their way back to his newly renovated, five-floor penthouse in the El Dorado building on Central Park West after the night out.
'I sat next to her on the piano bench and started kissing her,' he wrote. 'She kissed me back — but then stopped. "What’s wrong?" I asked. "I like you. But I hear you do this with a lot of people." I wanted to lie, to tell her that I didn’t, that I was chaste, sane, and ethical.'
Moby 'said nothing' and instead walked her down to the lobby and 'kissed her good night' by the elevators.
'This wasn’t how I imagined the night ending,' he wrote. 'I’d assumed that we would end up christening my new apartment with vodka and sex. But to my surprise, this was almost nicer.'
Player: In his memoir, Moby has also claimed to have dated Christina Ricci and Lana del Rey
