Scarlett Johansson is now 37-years-old, but she came to fame in her teen years. In a new interview on Dax Shepard’s podcast Armchair Expert, she explained how even then, she knew the way she was being treated was inappropriate. And aging her up considerably.

“I kind of became objectified and pigeonholed in this way where I felt like I wasn’t getting offers for work for things that I wanted to do,” she explained. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘I think people think I’m 40 years old.’ It somehow stopped being something that was desirable and something that I was fighting against.”

Constantly being courted for the same type of roles again and again left Johansson with the impression that there there was a very clear stopping point to her career ahead.
“Because I think everybody thought I was older and that I’d been [acting] for a long time, I got kind of pigeonholed into this weird hypersexualized thing,” she continued. “I felt like [my career] was over. 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?’”

She added, “The runway is not long on that. So it was scary at that time… I attributed a lot of that to the fact that people thought I was much, much older than I was.”

The Black Widow actress says that she sees younger actors and notices how things have changed since she began her career.

“Now, I see younger actors that are in their 20s. It feels like they’re allowed to be all these different things,” Johansson said. “It’s another time, too. We’re not even allowed to really pigeonhole other actors anymore, thankfully, right? People are much more dynamic.”

But there’s still a long way to go, in her opinion.

“We live in a patriarchy and I feel like there’s a fundamental reality of the woman’s condition that will always, even if those 600 men are not actively aggressive necessarily as much as they would have been a minute ago, it’s still fundamentally there,” she said. “It’s so baked into our culture and society. It’s hard for me to imagine that ever being not an element.”

Being in her thirties, Johansson said that she felt caught “between two worlds” or two generations approach to dealing with patriarchy in the entertainment industry.

“We had our mothers who were like, ‘Use whatever you can to get what the thing you need. Use your feminine wiles. Use your sexuality,’” she said. “And then there’s our generation I think that’s done that and also [said], ‘This doesn’t feel right, there’s gotta be some other way.’ And there’s the younger generation of women who are like 15 years younger than me, who are ‘You don’t have to take any of that crap. No pandering.’ There’s this system that’s completely rejected. It’s an interesting place to be in the in between of.”

Ultimately, the actress believes progress is “two steps forward and two steps back.”

“It’s not finite,” she said. “I think if you don’t leave room for people to figure it out, then the actual progressive change doesn’t really happen.”

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Scarlett Johansson will receive the 35th annual American Cinematheque Award gala and tribute at the Beverly Hilton on Nov. 18.

American Cinematheque chair Rick Nicita said Johansson’s career embodies the essence of the prestigious award.

“Her immense talent has shone brightly from her movie debut as a child through her emergence as a megastar of blockbusters,” Nicita said in a statement Tuesday morning. “She has acted in adventurous independent films with cutting-edge directors. She has starred in the most commercial of franchises. She has taken leading roles and supporting roles in movies budgeted big and small. Whenever she graces the screen with her luminous presence, the audience knows that they will see a dedicated artist at the height of her powers. We can’t wait to share in the next phase of Scarlett Johansson’s marvelous career.”

A New York native, Johansson made her professional acting debut at the age of eight in the off-Broadway production of “Sophistry” alongside Ethan Hawke. She has since appeared in an array of successful blockbuster franchises, most notably in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. Black Widow. First appearing in “Iron Man 2” alongside Robert Downey Jr. and Don Cheadle in 2010, Johansson went on to star in the two “Captain America” sequels and all four “Avengers” films. She will make her eighth and presumably final appearance as the titular superhero in her long-awaited solo film “Black Widow.”

Johansson received critical acclaim for her role as Nicole Barber in “Marriage Story” and her supporting role as Rozie Betzler in “Jojo Rabbit.” She received nominations for an Oscar, Screen Actors Guild Award and a BAFTA Award for her roles in both 2019 films. Other notable credits include “Lucy,” “Under the Skin,” “Ghost in the Shell,” “Isle of Dogs,” “Her,” “The Horse Whisperer,” “Manny & Lo,” “Hail, Caesar!,” “The Jungle Book,” “Chef,” “Don Jon” and “Hitchcock.”

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Scarlett Johansson has joined the outcry against the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, adding her voice to fellow Avenger Mark Ruffalo, who spoke out on Friday. They unite with numerous publicists, studios, and media organizations in condemning the HFPA’s lackluster diversity and inclusion initiatives.
“As an actor promoting a film, one is expected to participate in awards season by attending press conferences as well as awards shows,” Johansson said in her statement. “In the past, this has often meant facing sexist questions and remarks by certain HFPA members that bordered on sexual harassment. It is the exact reason why I, for many years, refused to participate in their conferences.

“The HFPA is an organization that was legitimized by the likes of Harvey Weinstein to amass momentum for Academy recognition, and the industry followed suit. Unless there is necessary fundamental reform within the organization, I believe it is time that we take a step back from the HFPA and focus on the importance and strength of unity within our unions and the industry as a whole.”
Johansson’s statement continues the dam breaking against HFPA, a movement that began at mid-week when Netflix’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos spoke out and said the studio would not participate in HFPA events until it revamped its organizational goals. Amazon Studios, GLAAD, The Black Journalists Assn., Time’s Up and many Hollywood publicists also have decried the HFPA’s actions.

Still silent is Disney, whose Black Widow starring Johansson is coming in July to theaters and Disney+ Premier Access.

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Season 13 of RuPaul’s Drag Race is ready to ring in the “Ru-year” at 8 tonight, but ahead of the VH1 premiere, Deadline can reveal this season’s roster of guest judges and from A-list superfans and queens of seasons past.

Cynthia Erivo, Nicole Byer, Loni Love, TS Madison and Jamal Sims are slated to join the RuPaul’s Drag Race judges panel this season alongside mainstays Michelle Visage, Carson Kressley, Ross Mathews and, of course, Mama Ru.

In addition, RuPaul’s Drag Race superfans Anne Hathaway and Scarlett Johansson will surprise queens later this season with interactive video masterclasses while Miss Congeniality winners from past seasons Nina West, Valentina and Heidi N Closet will also make guest appearances.

For the first time, VH1 will simulcast the Season 13 premiere of the Emmy-winning reality competition on The CW, MTV, MTV2, PopTV and Logo. As seen in the 10-minute preview, this season will welcome the queens with a shocking twist: They immediately must go head-to-head on the mainstage to defend their place in the competition with six lip syncs for their lives. The aftershow, RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked, will premiere immediately following the season premiere at 9:30 p.m. on VH1.

The 13 queens vying for the ultimate title of “America’s Next Drag Superstar” this season include Denali (Chicago), Elliott with 2 Ts (Las Vegas), Gottmik (Los Angeles), Joey Jay (Phoenix), Kahmora Hall (Chicago), Kandy Muse (New York), LaLa Ri (Atlanta), Olivia Lux (New York), Rosé (New York), Symone (Los Angeles), Tamisha Iman (Atlanta), Tina Burner (New York), and Utica Queen (Minneapolis).

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