Celebs Scarlett Johansson Absolutely Can't Stand

The following article includes mentions of sexual abuse allegations.

Some celebrities have given "Black Widow" star Scarlett Johansson ample reason to receive a tongue-lashing from the actor. There was the time her "Avengers" co-star Jeremy Renner seemed against the idea of Johansson's character getting romantically involved with his own because, as he so eloquently put it, "She's a slut." In the same 2015 interview with Digital Spy, Chris Evans agreed, saying with a laugh, "She's a complete whore." These two may have been joking, but when Johansson appeared on "The Jess Cagle Podcast" in 2021, she had nothing but lovely things to say about Renner. "Jeremy is one of the finest actors around," she gushed.

To be fair, her male castmates were talking about a fictional character, so perhaps Johansson didn't take their sexist quips personally. It's not quite the same as when Megan Fox seemingly suggested that the "Marriage Story" actor was a braggart with an overinflated ego. "I don't want to have to be like a Scarlett Johansson — who I have nothing against — but I don't want to have to go on talk shows and pull out every single SAT word I've ever learned to prove, like, 'Take me seriously, I am intelligent, I can speak,'" she told Esquire in 2009 (via People). Then there's the ending of "Lost in Translation." According to the Daily Beast, that kiss was reportedly Bill Murray's idea — and he didn't consult with Johansson about it beforehand.

While Johansson seems to have a talent for biting her tongue when it comes to other celebs' bad behavior, some stars have made her lose her cool.

In 2018, multiple women accused actor James Franco of sexual misconduct. Per the Los Angeles Times, most of them were aspiring actors who studied under his tutelage, and they accused him of using his filmmaking school to exploit female students. The allegations, which Franco denied, came at the height of the Time's Up movement, which saw victims and their allies demand accountability from sexual predators. During a speech at the Women's March in Los Angeles, Johansson accused Franco of engaging in hypocritical behavior by supporting the movement. "How could a person publicly stand by an organization that helps to provide support for victims of sexual assault while privately preying on people who have no power?" she said, per USA Today. Johansson also demanded that Franco return the Time's Up pin he was pictured wearing at the Golden Globes.

Some critics felt that Johansson was being a hypocrite herself. After Woody Allen's adoptive daughter, Dylan Farrow, accused him of sexual abuse, instead of siding with the alleged victim, Johansson took the antithetical stance in that particular situation. "It's not like this is somebody that's been prosecuted and found guilty of something, and you can then go, 'I don't support this lifestyle or whatever.' I mean, it's all guesswork," she told The Guardian in 2014.

Johansson didn't back down after getting called out on Twitter. In 2019, she told The Hollywood Reporter that she took Allen at his word and expressed her adoration for the director.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).

Scarlett Johansson might play a Russian spy in the MCU, but the actor is no ally to Russia's favorite former U.S. president. In 2016, she appeared in a PSA for Save The Day alongside a number of other celebs, including fellow "Avengers" stars Mark Ruffalo, Don Cheadle, and Robert Downey Jr. Their intention was to get out the vote, and it was obvious who they did not want viewers to support in the presidential race. Johansson not-so-subtly held up a sign reading "You're fired" — but Donald Trump's firing didn't come before he got the job.

Speaking to Time Out in 2017, Johansson described Trump as "an unpredictable person who is clearly a megalomaniac." She also predicted, "Darkness is nigh." However, in true superhero form, she vowed to keep fighting against one of Hollywood's biggest supervillains. Johansson delivered on her promise in 2020 when she teamed up with some of her MCU colleagues again. To help fundraise for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' presidential campaign, the actors participated in a Zoom call with Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, who likened Trump to a Marvel villain with an itchy Twitter finger, per Variety. This time, the superheroes' side won. 

In an interview with The Gentlewoman, Johansson recalled the moment she learned of Biden's victory. "I just cried. It was a pretty crazy reaction," she said. "Oh my God, it's over. It felt like the end of a war, you know?"

Based on what Scarlett Johansson has said about her ex-husband, Ryan Reynolds, it's hard to imagine Deadpool and Black Widow ever crossing paths in the MCU. It didn't bode well when Johansson painted a bleak picture of the days leading up to their private 2008 wedding. "I never thought that I'd be planning my wedding in, like, a dark alley somewhere," she said on "The Late Show" in 2010 (via Digital Spy). "I felt like I was doing a drug deal without all the fun."

After their 2011 divorce, Johansson seemingly confessed that she and Reynolds were too competitive. "If one person is more successful than the other, that also proves challenging. There may be a competitive thing," she told Cosmopolitan (via E! News). Success also meant working long hours, and Johansson didn't always want to spend her free time Netflix-and-chilling with her husband. "We work and then go home and — I, anyway — just stare at the wall for a few hours before I go to sleep," she told Time Out (via Today) in 2009.

Then there were the rumors. Speaking about Johansson's purported poor treatment of Reynolds, a source told Us Weekly, "It never seemed like she made him a priority." InTouch (via the Daily Mail) spoke to other insiders who claimed that Johansson had a short fuse when it came to her ex-husband. "He said it sounded like she was yelling every time she talked to him," alleged one source.

Before Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds became romantically involved, they co-starred together in the movie "Green Lantern." Reynolds was still married to Scarlett Johansson at the time, and if Lively was to be believed, she wanted to become badass besties with the "Black Widow" actor. "She's got to teach me how to fight!" Lively told MTV News in 2010. But by the following December, Johansson reportedly wanted nothing to do with the former "Gossip Girl" star. Lively snatched Reynolds up not long after he became single, and a source told Us Weekly that this irritated Johansson. "Scarlett is pissed that he's not under her spell anymore," claimed the insider. "She realized what a great catch Ryan was." 

In November 2011, Johansson did seem to be experiencing divorce remorse. Speaking to Cosmopolitan (via SheKnows) about marrying Reynolds, she said, "It was the best thing I ever did." ScarJo even seemed to confess to doing RyRey wrong, saying, "I wasn't prepared to hunker down and do the work."

After Lively and Reynolds got married in 2012, a source alleged to the National Enquirer, "Even though there is no evi­dence behind it, Scarlett has convinced herself that Ryan cheated on her with Blake. She's incredibly bitter about it." The insider also claimed that there was an ongoing rivalry between the two women over movie roles, and according to The Hollywood Reporter, they did both audition for the lead in "Gravity."

Ivanka Trump became a purveyor of perfume in 2012, and it experienced a significant boost in sales after her father won the presidency. CNN reviewers described Ivanka's fragrance as smelling like Pledge and alcohol, but in 2017, "Saturday Night Live" imagined a different scent for her new eau de parfum. Based on the fictional fragrance's name, Complicit, it would reek of the nervous sweat of someone guilty of supporting unscrupulous behavior. In a parody perfume ad, Johansson played Ivanka, but when she looked in a mirror, it wasn't her own reflection putting on lipstick; it was Alec Baldwin in character as Donald Trump. "Complicit: the fragrance for the woman who could stop all this — but won't," a voiceover said at the end of the ad.

Ivanka admitted to CBS News that she didn't understand the criticism: "If being complicit is wanting to ... be a force for good and to make a positive impact, then I'm complicit." When it came to her father's policies that she disagreed with, she revealed she wouldn't express those feelings publicly. 

Johansson addressed Ivanka's remarks during the Women in the World Summit, criticizing her for saying that she would only try to influence her father behind the scenes. "How old-fashioned! This idea that behind a great man is a great woman," she said. Johansson also suggested that Ivanka was afraid of being seen in a negative light if she spoke out, adding, "It's so uninspired and actually, I think, really cowardly, and I was just so disappointed by that interview."

Per a 2006 Gawker report, Lindsay Lohan allegedly scrawled a crude message about Scarlett Johansson on a bathroom wall while partying with model Kate Moss. The outlet obtained supposed photographic evidence of the "Mean Girl" star's meanspirited Sharpie graffiti, which read in part, "Scarlett is a bloody c***."

Allure (via Access) asked Johansson about the incident, and she was baffled as to why someone she had only crossed paths with a handful of times would seemingly harbor such hateful feelings toward her. She also threw a little shade at Lohan, saying of the powder room poetry, "I remember it was something really vulgar — I mean, shockingly so, like, 'Whoa, what, who are you?'" But by then, Johansson was well aware of who Lohan was. In an appearance on "The Howard Stern Show," she revealed that she actually lost the lead role in "The Parent Trap" to Lohan as a kid. It was a tough pill to swallow after previously missing out on Kirsten Dunst's "Jumanji" role. "I started to get bitter at that point," she quipped.

The New York Post also pointed to rumors that Lohan and Johansson both dated Jared Leto as a potential source of their alleged bad blood, and Lohan herself admitted to being jealous of Johansson's career. "I work just as hard as any other actress around my age, like Scarlett Johansson, but I just don't get the opportunities that they get," she complained to Interview magazine in 2009.

Female celebrities who wear gowns with low necklines to the Golden Globes unfortunately have to steel themselves for the inevitable passé puns referencing the event's name, but designer Isaac Mizrahi didn't simply settle for making inappropriate jokes when co-hosting E!'s red carpet coverage in 2006. Under the guise of investigating what was going on with Scarlett Johansson's built-in bra, he groped her breast. At the time, a shocked Johansson tried to laugh the incident off, but Mizrahi upped the cringe factor by chanting in a sing-song voice, "I touched Scarlett's boob."

"I was so mortified," Johansson later told Elle. "Holy moly, that was bizarre!" She also spoke to the Los Angeles Times about the incident. "It was definitely in poor taste," she said. "The first interview I do, someone who I have never met before fondles me for his own satisfaction." The actor's remarks about Mizrahi were reportedly less measured when she wasn't speaking to a reporter about them. According to Variety, she allegedly told her pals, "If he hadn't been gay, I would have slapped him."

When Mizrahi appeared on "George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight" in 2013, he tried to defend his actions by saying that he regularly touches his clients' breasts during fittings, bizarrely comparing his supposedly spontaneous squeeze to a doctor performing a prostate exam. He arguably didn't do himself any favors when he added, "That was as natural for me as shaking somebody's hand."

In a 2019 interview with As If magazine, Scarlett Johansson argued that actors shouldn't be restricted from being cast in certain roles if their gender or ethnicity doesn't match the character they want to play. "I feel art should be free of restrictions," she said. However, when French author Grégoire Delacourt wrote a book about a young woman who is a dead ringer for Johansson, the "Under the Skin" actor didn't think Delacourt should be free to give a fictional character her skin. Per The Guardian, Johansson sued the author for attempting to profit from her name. Her attorney also claimed that the book was a fraudulent portrayal of the actor's life, even though it told the tale of a doppelganger, not Johansson herself.

Johansson sought 50,000 euros in damages when she argued her case before a French court in 2014. However, she received a much lower award of 2,500 euros, plus an equal amount in attorney's fees. She also tried to prevent the novel, "La Première Chose Qu'on Regarde" ("The First Thing You See"), from being translated to English. She lost that legal battle, but Delacourt removed some of the text that Johansson took issue with. The author told RTL (via The Telegraph) that he was surprised by the actor's reaction to his work. "I thought she might send me flowers as it was a declaration of love for her, but she didn't understand," he said.

Scarlett Johansson doesn't like it when her privileged peers preach about parenting. Apparently, "The Nanny Diaries" star realized just how outspoken some celeb moms can be after she and her ex, Romain Dauriac, welcomed their daughter, Dorothy Rose, in 2014. The following year, she spoke to News.com.au about her struggle to adjust to her new role, saying that she realized she would likely have to lighten her workload someday because of her daughter. But if she'd already learned any valuable lessons about motherhood, she didn't share them. "I always really hate it when actors or people in the spotlight make giant grandiose statements about parenthood because it's so, so personal," Johansson said. "And I don't profess to know anything more about parenting than anybody else." 

Johansson didn't name names, but her "Iron Man 2" castmate, Gwyneth Paltrow, has been known to offer her counsel to other moms. In a 2012 interview with Harper's Bazaar, Paltrow related the advice she gave a fellow actor who was contemplating becoming a mother: "I said this may not be feminist, but you have to compromise. ... If you want what you're saying you want — a family — you have to be a wife, and that is part of the equation." While we don't know if Johansson had Paltrow in mind when she called out parenting know-it-alls, Paltrow did have to assure People that they weren't feuding in 2010.