The Real Reasons Scarlett Johansson And Romain Dauriac Split

The uber-private actress Scarlett Johansson shocked us all when news broke of her split from French journalist and art consultant Romain Dauriac in January 2017. They were notoriously private, making only a handful of red carpet appearances over the course of a nearly five year relationship, which only ended up including less than three years of marriage.

Along the way, they had a daughter together, started a business, and had one of the most quickly-quieted child custody battles in Hollywood history since Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes wrapped up the terms of their own divorce co-parenting agreement in just 11 days. But the fact that they were able to keep their marital disharmony from making the tabloid headlines doesn't mean that hints of unhappiness didn't bubble to the surface here and there. 

We've attempted to piece it all together to explain the real reasons Scarlett Johansson and Romain Dauriac split. 

The relationship between Scarlett Johansson, who turned 32 in 2016, and Romain Dauriac, who celebrated his 34th birthday in 2016, moved at light speed. They were first publicly linked in late October 2012 when cameras caught them on a lunch date after a mutual friend reportedly introduced them to one another. Ten months later, they were engaged. In September 2014, they welcomed daughter Rose Dorothy, and a month later they eloped. Had they slowed down enough to get to know each other better, they may have had a much shorter relationship with much less paperwork to do once they decided it wasn't going to work out.

This is the second time Johansson has tied the knot quickly. When she married Ryan Reynolds in 2008, they'd been dating for less than a year, and they wound up splitting in 2010. It seems that whenever Johansson falls fast, she falls hard. Unfortunately, a fire that burns so fast often burns out just as quickly.

A source told Us Weekly, "Scarlett initiated splitting up and made the decision. She felt like they didn't have much in common as far as lifestyle." A source close to Dauriac echoed the sentiment, telling People, "I've been expecting this for some time. Romain and Scarlett has never made sense to me. They aren't equals. There's always been something wrong with this picture."

Johansson previously told Parade that their differences were what attracted them to one another, but perhaps those contrasts were too great to be genuinely compatible. "We're interested in each other's worlds. He's interested in my weird, alien entertainment world. It fascinates him because it's so different than what he knows. And I like to go to art openings with him and talk about art and emerging artists with him. That's his passion."

Scarlett Johansson revealed to Parade in April 2015 that Romain Dauriac barely spoke English when they first got together, which may have created some challenges. "We met through friends in Paris. It was very romantic. And we became friends. When I'd come back to Paris I would see him," she said. "We started dating. He tells me that he learned English in one night! 'I barely spoke English when we met,' he said. I don't remember that at all. I felt like we were [always] talking the same language. Maybe it was the language of love."

The Captain America: Civil War actress also opened up about some of their arguments getting lost in translation. She explained that she was learning French to better communicate with Dauriac, telling late night host David Letterman in 2015, "When you're in a relationship with somebody you want to speak whatever language is easiest to get your ideas out as quickly as possible, so you can argue your point."

Before she met Romain Dauriac in late 2012, Scarlett Johansson was already a powerful presence in Hollywood, but after they tied the knot, her career exploded. She starred in three films in 2013 (Don Jon, Her, and Under the Skin), three huge movies in 2014 (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Chef, and Lucy), and a little old flick called Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015. Her 2016 was just as busy. She voiced a lead character in the animated movie Sing, reprised her role as Black Widow in Captain America: Civil War, and went full-on old Hollywood for Hail, Caesar!. In June 2016, Box Office Mojo (via Variety) ranked her the highest grossing actress of all time.

Johansson previously spoke of the struggle to balance work and play. "There must exist a world in which I can balance those things, be able to raise a family and still make a film a year, or work on my own, develop things, do theater. I want to be able to have it all," she told The Wall Street Journal in 2014. 

Perhaps Dauriac became too controlling for Johansson's liking, because she's previously expressed that feeling stifled is a pet peeve of hers. "I don't like jealous behavior," she told Marie Claire in 2013. "I don't mind an occasional check-in, but when somebody is passive-aggressively jealous, it's really unattractive because it shows a sort of insecurity...Oh, controlling behavior is awful. Nobody's going to say they love that." 

Of course, we can't be sure who she was referring to there, since she also told told Parade in 2015, "[Marriage] takes a lot of work. It takes a man who's not only confident in the love that you have for one another, but confident in what he has going on in his own career. He has to be in a field that's completely different from yours. My husband's also involved in art. What's important to him is the recognition that he gets from his job, and that has nothing to do with my job." That's... great? 

In February 2014, Scarlett Johansson told Elle UK (via People), "[Marriage is] really not important to me. The only time I ever think about it is when people ask me, 'Would I get married again? I'm not having kids anytime soon, I'm in a nice relationship, I'm working a lot and, like I said, it's not important to me." She added, "I got married when I was young and it was incredibly romantic and I liked being married, actually. But it is different. It's hard to put into words. To me, being in a functioning relationship doesn't mean you have to be married."

So what happened? Johansson didn't want to get married and didn't plan on having kids, and then she did both. Perhaps feeling pressured into those decisions made her itch to get out.

Scarlett Johansson and Romain Dauriac divided their time between Paris and the United States, but because she's so close with her family, the actress may have wanted to stay home more often than her hubby would have liked. She told Parade that she's close with her family, who was based in New York City, especially her twin brother, Hunter (pictured above). "I feel very connected to him. He's the most golden-hearted person. I think a lot of people spend their life looking for a partner, someone to be a mirror to reflect upon, to remind them that they've lived. You want someone to tell you what he witnessed in your life. My twin brother has always been that for me."

Though they reportedly broke up over the summer of 2016, Scarlett Johansson and Romain Dauriac remain friendly. They're still business partners for their Yummy Pop popcorn boutique in Paris and attended the grand opening together in December 2016. Johansson and Dauriac even attended an art opening together just days after their split was announced in January 2017, posing for photos and looking chummy as ever. It appears that though the marriage has run its course, their friendship and co-parenting relationship is strong.

The Ghost In The Shell (2017) star told Playboy (via People) that a Ted Talk about relationships resonated with her, and the way she recounts it is pretty telling: Maybe she didn't want to hear warnings from her loved ones that Romain Dauriac wasn't the man for her.

"The person who was giving the talk was saying that in moments when you're starting a new relationship and your friends and family say, 'No, this is a red flag. This person is not for you'— why do we ignore those people who know us so well in the moments that we don't? And then we distance ourselves from them because we're embarrassed or whatever," she said, adding, "It's interesting how sometimes all you need is your good friend to tell you that you're not acting like yourself. Or that they see something in front of you that is not beneficial for you or true to who you actually are...It's so easy to just go, 'No, I don't want to hear that.'"

Ultimately, Scarlett Johansson may have just been sick of being tied down. "I think the idea of marriage is very romantic; it's a beautiful idea, and the practice of it can be a very beautiful thing, [but] I don't think it's natural to be a monogamous person," she told Playboy (via People) in an interview conducted before her split was announced. "I might be skewered for that, but I think it's work. It's a lot of work." She added, "And the fact that it is such work for so many people—for everyone—the fact of that proves that it is not a natural thing. It's something I have a lot of respect for and have participated in, but I think it definitely goes against some instinct to look beyond."

Romain Dauriac reportedly grew tired of his wife and daughter bouncing from location to location. When Scarlett Johansson officially filed for divorce in March 2017 (citing that their marriage was "irretrievably broken"), Dauriac's lawyer told Page Six, "He would like to move to France with his daughter and Ms. Johansson does a lot of traveling. It will be an interesting process."

A source close to the divorce told Page Six the couple had an informal custody arrangement for their daughter in which they each spent every other week with the child. However, the arrangement seems unsatisfactory for Dauriac. "[Johansson] would take the child on these trips like when she shooting in New Zealand," the source said. "The kid was bouncing back and forth...It can't work because [Johansson] travels so much." The source added that when Dauriac protested the arrangement, he was reportedly told, "This is what they do in Hollywood."

After Romain Dauriac's lawyer's statement made the media rounds, the famously private Scarlett Johansson followed up with one of her own, telling E! News, "As a devoted mother and private person and with complete awareness that my daughter will one day be old enough to read the news about herself, I would only like to say that I will never, ever be commenting on the dissolution of my marriage. Out of respect for my desires as a parent and out of respect for all working moms, it is with kindness that I ask other parties involved and the media to do the same. Thank you." Shots fired. Shots returned. 

Scarlett Johansson was so eager to cut and run that she reportedly surprised Romain Dauriac with divorce papers after what was said to be quite an amicable separation. "We were shocked that they filed these proceedings in court," Dauriac's attorney, Hal Mayerson, told People on March 8, 2017. "We had been negotiating information relevant to their child Rose and also economic issues, so we were stunned when they did this. We've told [Johansson and her lawyers] that we would go to any means to try to avoid this...Romain is quite depressed. He was depressed about the suddenness of Ms. Johansson's decision to end the marriage."

Romain Dauriac's lawyer, Hal Mayerson, told People on March 8, 2017 that the journalist wanted primary custody of Rose — and to raise her in Paris. "He believes that [Johansson's] schedule makes it impossible for her to have [primary] physical custody," Mayerson said, adding, "Ms. Johansson has two apartments in Paris. She can come any time she wants to see [Rose] and have the child with her. If she's traveling, we expect there would be a schedule that would be roughly equal between them. ... When she travels we expect that Rose will be with the father because that's the best place for her to be. Romain is a good father. She leaves the child with him all the time."

Mayerson went on to explain to E! News, that while Dauriac's main concern was a schedule "that suits the child," he was looking forward to utilizing "the laws of the United States," which afford fathers and mothers "the same [treatment] in reference to custody." He added, "There are many cases where the fathers do a lot of traveling, and if they were to raise this same issue, you would you laugh. You can't hide behind a suit or a dress — it's what's in the best interest of the child." Mayerson also snapped back at Johansson's desire for privacy, saying, "People should have respect for their privacy, but she filed in the court system. She did. If she wants to continue to fight in the court system, she can't blame Mr. Dauriac for doing anything. She raised the issue."

A family law expert told People that because of Scarlett Johansson's film schedule, Romain Dauriac had a shot at primary custody in Paris, but others weren't so sure.

Family law specialist Steve Mindel explained that the court would examine who has the most stable living situation and that the court "is going to want to keep the child in that kind of stable living arrangement. ...The courts really have to try to design a program that works for the child as well as for the parents."

However, New York family law specialist Marilyn Chinitz explained that the "shared" nature of parental responsibilities is paramount. "[Dauriac] doesn't get to go back to France with the child simply because he's been caring for her while Scarlett is doing movies. That's not sufficient. That's a transient, temporary scenario. And the court looks to deeper levels of commitment to the child — the stability, the security, emotionally, financially," she said. She also claimed that location of the child's residence, school, pediatrician are also "critically important" factors. "So the court doesn't care where mom or dad are born," Chinitz added. "It's what the connection that the child has to a particular state."

Fortunately, Johansson and Dauriac were able to work out terms — and they were able to do it within the bounds of their fiercely guarded privacy. In September 2017, Page Six reported the exes "submitted a sealed settlement" which both finalized their divorce and resolved the custody battle.