Scarlett Johansson calls motherhood an 'emotionally abusive relationship': 'It's really tough'

Editor's note: This article was originally published on April 4, 2023. It has since been updated.

Scarlett Johansson is speaking up about the mayhem of motherhood while raising toddlers. During an episode of "The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast," Johansson shared insight on being a mother while chatting with hosts Lauryn and Michael Bosstick. According to Entertainment Tonight, the "Black Widow" actress recalled the challenges of raising her and ex-husband Romain Dauriac's 8-year-old daughter Rose when she was a toddler. Johansson—who also shares a 20-month-old son named Cosmo with her husband Colin Jost—explained that toddlers go through waves of emotions and are not afraid to vocalize themselves. 

"It's really tough," the 38-year-old told the Bossticks on April 2. "I remember my daughter when she was 2, I said, 'This is great. I don't know what everybody is talking about.' And then she turned 3, and it's like being in an emotionally abusive relationship."

Kids can be ruthless, and as a mother, Johansson was not spared of the troubles of parenting. "It's crazy, very intense emotional swings and so bossy and adamant," she continued. "And, also these huge mood swings, constant mood swings...You're up and down constantly."

Babies, however, are much easier to handle, said the "Avengers" actress. "Having a baby is so lovely," she gushed. "They're so cute. They sit there and they love you and then that's it. And you just get love from them." But once they get older, she added, "You get a lot of grief from toddlers. Everything you do is wrong."

According to US Weekly, Johansson noted that in her line of work, being a mother means “there is no balance” between her role at home and her career. “I work, like, 15-hour days, you know, so if I’m gonna be working on something and have to relocate everybody, [it’s] adventurous in some ways for the kids,” Johansson explained. “But they also need stability, too.”

The Oscar nominee confessed, “I don’t work in the same way that I used to work when I was, you know, 25 years old,” especially now that her daughter is getting older, she added. “I was very career driven and focused at that time, and less focused on personal own growth or whatever.”

Johansson's husband, Colin Jost, 40, is also said to be an attentive family man. “Colin is an extremely hands-on dad, he always makes a big fuss over little Cosmo,” a source told Us Weekly in October 2022, adding that Jost “always makes a point to pitch in” and allow his wife to rest.

The "Saturday Night Live" star, who wed Johansson in October 2020, is also “great” with his stepdaughter. “He is very respectful and caring,” the source added. After the split from her ex-husband, Romain Duriac, in 2017, Johansson got honest about parenting alone.

“I felt in the past – there’s such a loneliness to being a single parent. It’s a lot of different things at once, but there can be loneliness and this constant feeling of doubt, that you don’t know what the hell you’re doing and you don’t have anyone else to bounce it off of,” Johansson said in October 2019. “You maybe have doubts about your life: ‘How did I get here?’ It’s not all the time... but those moments creep in, and they creep in at weird times.”