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Scarlett Johansson’s a proud mom of two, sharing daughter Rose Dorothy with ex Romain Dauriac and son Cosmo with SNL’s Colin Jost. She’s been at the parenting game for a while now, as her eldest daughter is already 11, but there’s one piece of advice that’s stuck with the actress as she’s worked at her career and her mom duties concurrently.
She told Sunday Morning that it all starts with her admitting having a work life balance is a myth. When she’s on a movie set, that’s her life. The hours are long, she’s often away on location when she’s filming a movie, and she’s not able to focus on her home life like she might want to. It doesn’t get easier at home. In between those roles, she also has a skincare line, has worked as a producer, and has pushed to direct movies like Eleanor the Great. All of this has led her to being the highest paid actress in Hollywood, but it comes with parenting downsides.
I think actually admitting that there is no work-life balance is the first step to kind of getting there in a way, because it’s just not possible. There's always something that is, you know, there's a deficit in some area, and I think you have to be… I’ve learned to be more kind to myself. You can't do all of these things all the time and so, you know, there's just like, “Is it good enough?”
This is a perspective she’s developed over time. She told CBS Sunday Mornings that she used to focus more on always being in the spotlight. However, having her “first child was a big turning point” in her career, because it forced her to think about what she really wanted.. She’s said she was “pigeon-holed” early in her career, and it’s hard to say no to opportunities and take a step back in that competitive environment. She doesn’t really have this attitude these days.
It is so competitive. Once you do have the spotlight, you wanna keep it on you. That’s the instinct, I think, for any young actor, or any actor. Once I’ve got everyone’s attention, I have to kind of keep their attention. At some point, I actually realized, I’ve got a foothold and it’s OK. I can work on the things that will challenge me… and stuff will come out when it comes out.
Now, it sounds like she’s much kinder on herself. She knows she can’t do it all or be perfect even when she is focusing on one thing or another. She said she tries to get the parenting thing right 75% of the time, which was advice she’d gotten early on. (She absolutely crushed it when her daughter asked about pantylines.) Overall, it sounds like in general she has a more relaxed attitude, and it’s paid off, actually leading her to opportunities she’s more passionate about, such as directing the aforementioned Eleanor the Great.
It probably helps she has a real winner at home in Colin Jost, a man who will literally go dumpster diving for Scarlett Johansson when the occasion requires it.
He’ll be back on deck soon enough. Next up, Scarlett Johansson is back on the heroes circuit, and we’ve already gotten a look at her in The Batman: Part II. The movie’s one of several in the works for 2026 and 2027, and she’ll likely be splitting her attention for some red carpets in the near future. She’s got this, though.
