Scarlett Johansson Dives Into The Sad Reality She Faced As A Young Actor
Scarlett Johansson has been a successful actor from a young age. According to People, she started acting at the age of nine. Her breakthrough roles were in "Ghost World" and "Lost in Translation;" she was 15 and 17 respectively. The Marvel actor is also known for being one of the most beautiful and attractive actors in Hollywood. She was able to snatch Esquire's "Sexiest Woman Alive" title twice (2006 and 2013), a feat only Johansson had achieved at the time.
In her 2006 interview with Esquire, the "The Other Boleyn Girl" actor was asked about how an "In Touch" study determined that she had the best breasts in Hollywood. Equally, a British poll that determined that she has the best bottom. "What about my brain?" she said, naming the things that she believed mattered more. "What about my heart? What about my kidneys and my gallbladder?"
And with being cast as Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, she faced multiple sexiest questions from reporters in press interviews. A fan posted a video compilation of interviewers asking the actor about her workouts and diet, while her male co-stars got the more interesting and thoughtful questions. Now, Johansson is opening up about the challenges she faced as a young actor who looked older than her actual age.
Scarlett Johansson talks about being 'hypersexualized' at a young age
In the 500th episode of the "Armchair Expert" podcast with Dax Shepard, Scarlett Johansson spoke about her experience as a young actor. The comedian asked the Marvel actor if she was sometimes thrown into challenging situations due to looking older than she actually was (00:22:00). "[I] definitely was in different situations that were not age-appropriate," she answered. She mentioned that her mom would sometimes intervene and help, but "she can't do that for everything." She also revealed that looking older as a young actor was the reason why she was often "hypersexualized."
The "Sing" actor has also spoken about this while promoting "Black Widow" in 2021. "The character is like so sexualized," she told Hello Beautiful. "[She's] talked about like she's like a piece of something and like a possession." She mentioned that the sexualization started when Tony Stark said, "I want one," in "Iron Man 2" when Johansson's character is introduced.
Even her Marvel co-stars made some controversial remarks about Johansson's character. In a 2015 interview with Digital Spy, the reporter asked Chris Evans and Jeremy Renner how they felt about Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow teaming up with both of their characters, but ending up with Bruce Banner aka the Hulk. "She's a slut," Renner joked. Evans laughed and added "She's a complete whore." According to Time, both of the actors have issued apologies for their comments.