LOS ANGELES (THE GUARDIAN) - American actress and #MeToo activist Rose McGowan has expressed regret for her attack on Black Swan (2010) actress Natalie Portman over the latter's Oscar dress "protest", which took aim at the exclusion of women from the Best Director Academy Award nominations.

In a post on Twitter, McGowan did not directly apologise to or name Portman, but wrote: "My critique should've been about Hollywood's ongoing culture of silence. I realise that by critiquing someone personally, I lost sight of the bigger picture."

She added: "All voices, however spoken, are valid. Let's all keep pushing boundaries in whatever way we can, it's time to get loud."

McGowan had ignited the controversy a week ago with a post accusing Portman of being a "fraud", which said: "Portman's type of activism (is) deeply offensive to those of us who actually do the work."

This followed widespread coverage of the dress Portman wore to the 2020 Oscars ceremony, which was embroidered with the names of female film-makers who had not been nominated for this year's Best Director award.

Portman responded with a statement defending her record in working with other female directors, saying: "I agree with Ms McGowan that it is inaccurate to call me 'brave' for wearing a garment with women's names on it. Brave is a term I more strongly associate with actions like those of the women who have been testifying against Harvey Weinstein the last few weeks, under incredible pressure."

McGowan is among the many women who have accused disgraced movie mogul Weinstein of sexual assault.