Scarlett Johansson Opens Up About A Time When She Felt “Hyper-Sexualized”

Scarlett Johansson shares about the time when she felt “hyper-sexualized” in the industry at a young age.

Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast’s 500th episode featured actress Scarlett Johansson as a guest. Scarlett Johansson addressed that she felt hyper-sexualized by the industry at a young age. She debuted on-screen in “North” in 1994 at 9 years old.

Despite her desire to work in the field, Scarlett Johansson felt sexualized and typecast by the industry. The actress shared that she kept thinking that people thought she was 40 years old. Which made her think that she somehow has stopped being something desirable. It was something she was fighting against.

After she starred in ‘Lost in Translation’, opposite Bill Murray in 2003 at the age of 19, she was critically acclaimed for her work. Because everyone thought she was older, she was perhaps pigeonholed as hypersexualized. Scarlett said that she thought that because she has been acting for a long time, people think she is old. The actress said she almost felt like her career was over.

The actress mentioned she had a vision of a career with specific types of roles she wanted to play on-screen. When she wasn’t given the work she wanted and was placed in a certain category, she thought, “Is this all she is supposed to do?”

Scarlett told Dax that the runway was not long, so it was scary at the time and that she was like, ‘This is it?’ The actress explained how the industry landscape has evolved for young women now.

She pointed out how female characters now are written to represent them as more than just beautiful counterparts to men. And mentioned that it was not the case when she had started acting. Scarlett explained that people assumed that she was much older than she was, which caused much of this.

She continued to say that she admires how things are different for actors who are just stepping into the industry now. It is an advantage for actors in their 20s to be able to do all these creative and different things, according to the actress. There is no longer a necessity to categorise other actors as they are no longer permitted to do so.

Scarlett stated that individuals are more dynamic now and she is really happy to see the progress in the industry. The actress still thinks that more work needs to be done to change the way things work in the industry. She specifically said to keep women safe on set and to keep men in power from attempting to exploit young actors.