Australian police have cleared Natalie Portman, her husband Benjamin Millepied and pal Sacha Baron Cohen of any wrong doing after they were pictured sailing together in lockdown Sydney earlier this week.
The Emerald city was put under a two-week lockdown in response to rising cases of the infectious Delta variant of Covid earlier this month.
Currently residents of the greater Sydney area have been ordered to stay home under the public health order except for "essential” reasons, which included "exercise and outdoor recreation".
However, it wasn’t specified whether outdoor recreation included sailing.
On Monday, the trio were spotted in good spirits sailing around Sydney's north beaches on boat with each of their children in pictures obtained by DailyMail Australia.
Natalie’s other half Benjamin, 44, was seen behind the boat’s wheel while the Oscar winner, 40, and Borat star Sasha, 49, relaxed on board.
However after the pictures emerged and local outrage, NSW authorities opened an investigation into the group’s excursion - and have found ‘no wrongdoing’
A police spokeswoman confirmed to News.com.au that the outing complied with the public health orders.
The spokeswoman said: "Officers attached to Northern Beaches Police Area Command received information about a group on a boat on Monday, potentially breaching public health orders.
"Police have reviewed the information and confirmed the activity, and the number of people in the group, complied with the PHOs in force at that time.
"There will be no further police action taken."
After photos were initially published, DailyMail Australia reported that Sydney locals were left fuming about their outing on social media.
Australian BBC correspondent Frances Mao penned: “So nice that Hollywood celebs get to enjoy Sydney Harbour during lockdown".
While another local journalist Ben Grubb shared: "What lockdown? Recreational activities are allowed as part of the sixteen rules but two separate families on a boat?"
Earlier this month, Sydney was put under a two-week lockdown in response to rising cases of the infectious Delta variant of Covid.
New South Wales' Premier Premier Gladys Berejiklian said over the weekend that she expected that figure to rise.
"Given how contagious this strain of the virus is, we do anticipate that in the next few days, case numbers are likely to increase even beyond what we have seen today because we are seeing that people in isolation, unfortunately, would have already transmitted to all their house contacts," she said.
As of Friday, Berejiklian announced tougher lockdown restrictions for greater Sydney, the Central Coast, Blue Mountains and Wollongong.
Confirming the new guidelines, the politician said she "can’t see how we would be in a position to ease restrictions" by 16 July, when the original lockdown is set to expire.
She added that things won’t change "unless there is a dramatic turnaround in the numbers".
Berejiklian’s restrictions are aimed at achieving zero new Covid cases who have been infectious in the community.
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