Yahoo News Scarlett Johansson recalls being 'hyper-sexualized' early in her career
With a career that began when she was only 9 years old, Scarlett Johansson, now 37, says she was"pigeonholed" into hyper-sexualized roles early in her career.
Johansson sat down with Dax Shepard and Monica Padman, co-hosts of Armchair Expert, for the podcast's 500th episode, and discussed coming of age on-screen and in Hollywood.
The Oscar-nominated star made her mark with 2001's Ghost World when she was 15, before breaking through with 2003's Lost in Translation. Shepard says Johansson "got labeled 15 going on 30" and that it must have been both a blessing and a curse for the young actress.
Focus Features/Everett
Having spent a lot of time around adults as a child, thanks to both her career and growing up in Manhattan, Johansson admits she "definitely was in different situations that were not age-appropriate," but that her mother was "really good about protecting" her from "a lot of that stuff, but she can't do that for everything."
The Black Widow star says her perceived maturity led to her being hyper-sexualized, despite sex never being "a huge part of my actual personality."
"Because I think everybody thought I was older and I'd been [acting] for a long time and then I got kind of pigeonholed into this weird hyper-sexualized thing," she said. "It was like, that's the kind of career you have. These are the roles you've played and I was like, 'This is it I guess.'"
Johansson admitted she was fully aware that that particular pigeonhole had a short shelf life for women in Hollywood and that "it was scary at that time." She went on to note her experience differed dramatically from that of her Other Boleyn Girl co-star Natalie Portman, as the two discussed while working together on the 2008 film: "[Portman] also was saying it kind of f---ed her up because she wasn't that person. She wasn't a prude, buttoned-up girl next door."
Now, however, the climate around young actresses has changed, Johansson explained, citing Zendaya and Florence Pugh, who played her little sister in Black Widow. "I see younger actors that are in their 20s, it feels like they're allowed to be all these different things," she said. "We're not even allowed to really pigeonhole actors anymore."
Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.
Related content:
