Scarlett Johansson Says She Was ‘Groomed’ To Be A ‘Bombshell’

Scarlett Johansson says that she was molded as "a bombshell-type of actor" early in her career. In a new interview on Tuesday (December 13), the Black Widow star said that she felt she had landed in a "weird fever dream" after filming the 2003 movies Lost in Translation and Girl with a Pearl Earring in her teenage years.

Now, the 38-year-old actress says, "It sort of was my transition into my adult career." She notes that she experienced "a really hard time doing Lost in Translation." The actress added, "I kind of became like an ingénue, sort of, and I just think that's part of — young girls like that are really objectified, and that's just a fact. I did Lost in Translation and Girl With the Pearl Earring and by that point, I was 18, 19, and I was coming into my own womanhood and learning my own desirability and sexuality. I think it was because of that trajectory I had been sort of launched towards — I really got stuck."

During her early acting career, Johansson said, "I was kind of being groomed, in a way, to be this what you call a bombshell-type of actor." She felt that "playing the other woman and the object of desire" left her feeling "cornered in this place like I couldn't get out of it." Scarlett credited Creative Artists Agency partner Bryan Lourd for helping her turn her career around. "It would be easy to sit across from someone in that situation and go, 'This is working, why change it?' But for that kind of bombshell, you know, that burns bright and quick and then it's done and you don't have opportunity beyond that."

In June 2021, Johansson said that her character Natasha Romanov AKA Black Widow was “talked about like she’s a piece of something, like a possession or a thing or whatever — like a piece of a–, really.” Johansson noted that Tony Stark “even refers to her as something like that at one point. What does he say? ‘I want some.’ Yeah and at one point calls her a piece of meat and maybe at that time that actually felt like a compliment. You know what I mean? Because my thinking was different.”

Scarlett Johansson is one of the most beautiful actresses in Hollywood. She began her acting career at a young age, making her film debut as John Ritter's daughter in the fantasy comedy North (1994) at age nine. She says that when she was on the film set, she knew intuitively what to do. Johansson shifted to adult roles in 2003 with her award-winning performances in Lost in Translation and Girl with a Pearl Earring. For the last decade or so, Johansson has had the iconic role as the Black Widow, AKA Natasha Romanoff, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

In her personal life, Johanson was married to Ryan Reynolds from 2008-2011, then Romain Dauriac, whom she has an 8-year-old daughter named Rose with. In 2020, the Marriage Story star married comedian and Saturday Night Live writer Colin Jost. The couple welcomed a son named Cosmo in August 2021. When asked how the two came up with the unconventional name, Scarlett revealed during an appearance on the Kelly Clarkson Show, "We just threw a bunch of letters together. I just really thought it was charming and our friends liked it.” Noting that "Cosmo is a really sweet little flower that comes in different shades of orange and yellow and stuff like that," the actress continued. "That's why my daughter liked it too."

Whether you like action movies or drama movies or just beautiful women in general, it's always a pleasure to see Scarlett Johansson on the big screen. Take a look below at how nothing has changed from the actress over the past 10 years besides her hairstyle: