The rich kid teenage reality star ‘superbrat’ who captured Superman Henry Cavill’s heart: Natalie Viscuso found fame on MTV’s Super Sweet 16 before she was embroiled in a ‘black face’ scandal that almost threatened to derail her lover’s Netflix career

On the surface, Natalie Viscuso, with her thick-rimmed glasses, sloppy dressing and shy disposition, is a world away from the glitz and glamor of Hollywood.

But the 34-year-old American is in fact a former teen reality star, exclusively for movies and a model who is dating Superman – and could be the kryptonite for his career after a blackface controversy.

British actor Henry Cavill, who played the DC superhero for ten years, has been dating Natalie for three years and the couple has kept a relatively low profile.

Apart from the rare public snaps – including last Sunday when they left a London hotel – the only glimpse fans get into their relationship comes from playing board games on social media or praising their pets, plus the occasional red carpet.

However, Cavill, 40, seems smitten with his partner, leading some fans to speculate whether she could become Mrs. Cavill.

A film source said: ‘Henry and Natalie are very close and are very supportive and protective of each other.

“Some of Natalie’s previous antics threatened to derail his career, but that is now largely in the past and they look forward to a bright future – both on and off camera – together.”

Since his acting breakthrough in the BBC series The Tudors, Cavill has become one of Hollywood’s most in-demand actors.

He’s constantly linked to the James Bond job, playing the iconic role of Superman in four films, plus starring in Netflix hit The Witcher.

But in an era where clean reputations are the key to longevity in Tinsel Town, Cavill would not have welcomed Viscuso’s past controversies coming to light in their first year of dating.

In 2021, his association with Netflix was in jeopardy after Viscuso became embroiled in a “cultural appropriation” row when photos surfaced of her sporting blackface during a 2008 modeling shoot.

Angry fans wanted the streamer to take down Cavill, forcing Viscuso to issue a public apology in an attempt to draw a line under the saga.

In the photos, she was dressed in East African tribal garb and her skin from the neck down was colored in what appears to be Otjize, a pigment – ​​made from butterfat and ocher – used by the Himba community in Namibia to mark themselves. protect against the harsh climate.

They were taken when she appeared on an MTV reality show in 2008, where she spent time with an African tribe in Namibia, who dressed her in native clothing as part of an initiation ceremony.

Viscuso said: “First of all, I would like to say that I am sorry if this image has surfaced and has been offensive. It is a photo from 2008 for a TV program in Namibia.

‘The tribe I lived with painted my skin as part of an initiation ceremony and acceptance into their culture.

‘Never in a million years did I think this would be offensive, in fact I felt honored that they would induct me.

‘However, with the lessons we are all learning in the current climate, it is important that I recognize that this is potentially harmful. My deepest and most sincere apologies.”

Viscuso’s reality TV career began with MTV’s Super Sweet 16 series, which documented the glamorous lives of young super-rich teens living off their parents’ wealth.

Her father is multi-millionaire nightclub magnate Michael Viscuso and she lived with him and soon-to-be stepmother Melissa in California, where her 16th birthday party – which cost $450,000 – was filmed as part of the show.

In the 2015 episode, in which Viscuso also drove her father’s Ferraris and Bentleys and showed off her wardrobe full of clothes from the brands Gucci, Dior and Louis Vuitton, she says: ‘Money is really no object for me. I’m really spoiled.

“Sometimes I feel guilty about that, but I deserve everything I have because I’ve always been just the nice girl, never the rich girl.”

Despite her ditsy character on the teen show, she graduated from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Art with a bachelor’s degree in 2011, where she was also involved in extracurricular activities and received academic honors, before moving on to work in scripted television . divisions of the Weinstein Company and ITV Studios.

In 2013, she became vice president of television and digital studios at Legendary Entertainment, the company that produced Cavill’s films Man of Steel (2013), where they supposedly first met, and Enola Holmes (2020).

Viscuso is currently vice president of Vertigo Entertainment, a Los Angeles-based production company behind Prime Video’s Them: Covenant.

Shortly after news of her position broke, she wrote on Instagram: “Genre stories have been the beating heart of who I have been since I was a child.

“I feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to translate that passion into a career and to have done so with some of the best in the industry.”

Her relationship with Cavill’s came to the fore in April 2021 after the pair were spotted walking around London.

A few days later, the pair confirmed their romance on Instagram, with the duo both sharing a photo of themselves playing a game of chess.

Cavill captioned the post: ‘This is me looking calm and confident, moments before my beautiful and brilliant love Natalie destroys me at chess.

Viscuso wrote: ‘I just want to teach my dear Henry to play chess… or… maybe he let me win?’

The couple made their red carpet debut in October 2022 at the New York premiere of Henry’s Enola Holmes 2, two months before announcing their first film collaboration, a live-action adaptation of the Warhammer tabletop miniatures game, which is currently in production.