"I felt in the past - there’s such a loneliness to being a single parent," said the actress mom who had to struggle to find real love.
Scarlett Johansson has certainly proved her talent as an actress. From a child actor who starred in The Horse Whisperer to being the tough superheroine Black Widow from the Marvel movie franchise, she is not one to be taken lightly. But while professionally she may have found immense success, her attempts at relationships didn't match the same results.
She had to go through unbelievable heartbreak and self-doubt after her two failed marriages while making sure her daughter remained unaffected by it. But as Herculean as a task as it may have been, she did it and came out stronger on the other side. She even managed to find love again. But in order to truly understand her journey, we have to go back to the start.
Though many might link the Canadian actor to his now-wife Blake Lively, there was a time when Johansson was married to him. And it wasn't a great first experience. In a 2019 interview with Vanity Fair, the actress opened up about her three-year marriage to the Deadpool actor. She had explained she wasn't ready for that kind of relationship. "The first time I got married I was 23 years old,” Johansson said. “I didn’t really have an understanding of marriage.” She added, “Maybe I kind of romanticized it, I think, in a way."
So, with pain in her heart, the divorce went through. But it did help her slowly find herself. "It’s a different part of my life now. I feel like I’m in a place in my life, I feel I’m able to make more active choices. I’m more present, I think, than I’ve been before," she said. It enabled her to put herself out there again for love, which she received and even got an incredible gift out of.
In 2014, the Nanny Diaries actress was wed to French art curator, Dauriac. At the time, things were going well and in the same year, the couple also brought their little bundle of joy into the world — their daughter, Rose Dorothy. They were a happy little family. And Johansson truly believed that Dauriac was the one for her. When asked in an interview with Parade whether there was any moment she had with him that she felt safe and complete and that he loved her and always would, she recalled a special moment.
"I remember one moment in particular, where I was really upset. Something had happened in my family and I was devastated. I was having a really intense conversation on the phone. Romain was right outside the door. I knew he heard everything. I had to take a break from the conversation. And I came into the living room, and I started crying. And he held me. I gathered myself together and I went back in the other room and finished this intense conversation. We never talked about it after that. He comforted me. That was enough. I remember thinking there was a safety in that. I was accepted. There are moments like that that happen throughout our relationship as it grows and changes, moments where I feel reassured that he is still there for me."
However, in 2017, even moments like these couldn't keep the couple together and the two divorced. It was truly heartbreaking for Johansson who had really wanted to make this relationship with him work. But this was an eye-opener for the mother as not only did she realize she just needed time to herself, she also needed to keep her daughter safe from an onslaught of emotions.
For a while, she wasn't looking to date anyone or look for love. Her world revolved around her work, herself and most important, Rose. A source told E! News in March 2017, "Scarlett just got separated from Romain and is still dealing with the fact that now she's had two failed serious relationships. She's not trying to rush into anything and is just chilling." The 35-year-old Tony Award winner also told radio personality, Howard Stern that she was quite happy not looking for anyone at the moment, according to E!News. "I'm on guard," she offered as the reason for her reluctance, "because I have a young daughter. That's something I'm more concerned about."
"I felt in the past - there’s such a loneliness to being a single parent," she told USA Today. "Obviously, it’s a lot of many different things at once, but there can be a 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." She mentions that it brings about a sense of isolation and self-doubt. “You’re also spending a lot of time alone with a child, without the company of another adult, which is hard for long periods of time. 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.”
"When you have a breakup of any kind, whether it’s amicable or not, you question a lot of the choices that you’ve made. OK, who am I now? And I had this new identity as a single mom, so what is that? How does this work?" Even the logistics of it, and the emotional cadence of it. "How is this going to be?" And not knowing what the future holds. These are all things that trigger my anxiety," Johansson added.
By this point, the Lucy star had had time to really get a grip of herself. And as she rose in fame, she didn't allow her pain to take over any aspect of her life. She also didn't let it leave her jaded about love. Because of this, the Oscar nominee found the time to enjoy being with Saturday Night Live writer and comedian, Colin Jost, whom she recently got engaged to. But Jost didn't just fall in love with his fiance, he also fell in love with her daughter. “Colin is a great father figure for Rose,” a source told Us Weekly. “He loves playing with her and she is obsessed with him.”
Well, it looks like third time truly is the charm for ScarJo!
References:
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/11/scarlett-johansson-oscars-issue-cover-story
https://www.elle.com/uk/life-and-culture/culture/a29768731/scarlett-johansson-loneliness-therapy/
