Scarlett Johansson opened up about why dating people outside the entertainment industry hasn’t always worked for her—pointing to “jealousy” as one of the main reasons.
In a candid chat with her Black Widow co-star David Harbour for Interview Magazine, Scarlett spoke about her dating history and why she’s mostly been drawn to fellow creatives. The actress, who was previously married to Ryan Reynolds and Romain Dauriac and tied the knot with Colin Jost in 2020, revealed that being with someone who isn’t in showbiz comes with unique challenges.
She admitted to having “serious relationships with people that were not in the industry” but said it was tough when they didn’t fully understand what her job demanded. “Obviously, if I was dating an oncologist, I wouldn’t know what they needed to do for their job,” she said. “But it’s not so abstract.”
She went on to say that it’s “easy” for jealousy to creep in when dating someone outside the industry because actors naturally build close bonds on set. “Actors by nature are very free-spirited and they create very intimate relationships with people at work,” Scarlett explained. “They can be loyal to a partner and also very engaged in all these other kinds of relationships, and I think it can be a blurry line for some people.”
She added that being in the public eye can also complicate things for partners who aren’t used to that kind of attention. “To have a relationship with the public can be a complicated thing for people outside of the industry to understand,” she said.
Reflecting on her current relationship with husband Colin Jost, Scarlett previously shared on Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop podcast that she wouldn’t have been ready for the kind of love they now share at an earlier stage in her life.
“When we first started seeing each other, I would never have probably been ready for a relationship like the one that I have with Colin [now] at different times in my life because I wasn’t comfortable setting my own boundaries,” she said. “I didn’t know not only what I wanted but what I needed from somebody else. I think one of the things I realized is that there are certain fundamental things in your own personality you need—for me, anyway—that I needed to share with the other person.”
