Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett Johansson: Hello, everyone. I'm so happy to be here. I'm Arianna Huffington: so happy to have you here. So are you thinking of running for office?

Scarlett Johansson: Oh, I don't know. I mean, I think, I've, like I said, I've always been interested in local politics.

I think that's where you make the most effective changes in your community and you know, I don't know. I would never rule anything out. But I have a very full life right now, and I think that, you know, with a very young daughter and you know, I have a lot that I wanna do still with my career.

You know, I can't imagine that would be a possibility for a long time. Arianna Huffington: But you know, New York Mayor, wouldn't that be great? Local politics. Scarlett Johansson: It'd be great.

I'd like to. I would like to see more affordable housing in New York City, and I'd like to see a greener city. But I also believe that, you know, there are, you know, there are people that are, you know, I have certainly, in the past, have supported Scott Stringer and his mayoral run, and I really believed a lot in his experience and his platform.

So, you know, I think you can affect a lot of change just by supporting a political candidate and perhaps redirecting the spotlight onto somebody, you know, whose, policies you really stand behind, so.

Arianna Huffington: I have an idea that the third feminist movement has to include going beyond giving us the vote or giving us access to every job and the top of every profession, to helping us change the nature of work and of life so that we don't assume that it has to be fueled by stress and burnout and being always on.

And I was thinking about you in Her, when you played Samantha, you know, this AI kind of Siri, and the fascination with technology and our addiction to technology and how much this adds to the stress and burnout of modern life. So I wonder whether both your kind of view of feminism in this era of incredible technological addiction- Hmm. And your own relationship to the, your devices has changed.

For example, let me start with a simple question. Do you sleep with your phone? Scarlett Johansson: My phone is I don't ever put my ringer on to the, probably much to the concern of every person that works with me, but I just can't stand it.

I'm not a very you know, I don't, I'm not, I've no social media presence. I live a, quite an analog life. But I do find that my phone adds a lot of stress to my life.

And it's an unnecessary stress because life is stressful, obviously, and it's complicated and especially, I think, when you're even as a, you know, it's, life is stressful in general, right? As, I find as a working parent, life is.

There's, not a lot of other added stresses that come along with that, where you're constantly feeling like you are, there's just not enough of you know, and you. And then, and then what's left for you even? You know what I mean?

So to then have the addition of, not just the availability of information and news. I mean, actually, I at one point, right after Trump was elected, I was getting such panic because I was constantly, I found myself constantly. I would wake up and then I would check, of course, The Huffington Post, and then I would look at, you know, Politico or whatever other sites.

And then, you know, I'd make my coffee and I would have CNN on, and then I before that, I'd have listened to NPR. I was, I was manic. And then in the you know, taxi cab, where I was, ever where I was at any given moment, I had this this newsfeed constantly in my ear.

You know, that plus work being constantly, you know, being constantly available for work or constantly, you know, or or being able to go down a rabbit hole and look at a comment board and you know. I mean, it's so much. It's just too much.

It's too much. I think if we. You know, there is a responsible way, I think, to live our lives with technology, where we're also, where we also take care of ourselves. Right. Take care of our mental state.

You know, give give ourselves time and space to be clear in our mind so that we can focus on our own empowerment and focus on our own, our own goals, how we wanna get there. Take the time to, you know, meditate. Take the time to, you know, sit down with your coffee or whatever it is you do and not be staring at your thing and not be just absorbing all of this constant information.

But actually strategize with yourself, you know. Try to envision a goal for yourself and you know, you know, try to, try to think about what kind of active choices you're making in your life. You know, take time for yourself.

I think that helps. That is empowering. Arianna Huffington: Right now, women need to lead the way into changing our relationship with stress and technology, because it's really driving everybody manic.

Scarlett Johansson: Yeah, I think it's. I try to, I try to, I try to stop myself from I go, "Am I. Wait, do I need to be doing this right now?"

Yes. I don't. I do not need to be, you know, like, going down the rabbit hole of, you know, what the first production of Glass Menagerie Like, that's okay. I can put that away for a minute. I can just put it away.

Arianna Huffington: And how has your life changed, since you became a mother, which is now two and a half years? Scarlett Johansson: Yes, it's two and a half years and it's. How. It is so profound, the change.

I can't even begin to summarize it.

But you It's just, I think I really enjoy, you know, when I am disconnected from this thing, it really allows me to be really connected with my two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, and just, you know, I just love, and I've been fascinated also with this idea also in my work as an, as an, as an actor, this kind of paring away of all this noise, and get, and kind of return to almost this child state where you see, you know, with your child, they're so imaginative, and the, you know, this imaginative play that they do.

I love to watch her come up with all kinds of stories and games and you know, it's such a magical, a magical, of course, that word's so overused, but it's such an opportunity to really enjoy just life and and the simple things that, you know, are, that connect us to one another, these, this human experience that we share.

It's so wonderful to be able to have this tiny person to, you know, to you know, interact with and share that part of life with. It's it's been amazing. And it's this What can I say?

Arianna Huffington: This tiny bilingual person. Rose speaks English and French, forcing her mother to learn French. Scarlett Johansson: She is. I know, and she doesn't like it when I speak French for some reason.

I don't know why. She'll go, "No French. Daddy's, Daddy talks that."

I'm like, "You are a bossy kid. Arianna Huffington: I wonder where she took that from. No French." The Pardon?

I wonder where she took the bossy part from. Remember, Sheryl Scarlett Johansson: Don't ask her father that. Arianna Huffington: I know. We shouldn't, we shouldn't call our our daughters bossy.

We should say that they have leadership abilities. Yeah. So, Scarlett, I do wish we had more time, but I just want to thank you so much for being not just a brilliant, amazing, and indeed magical actor but for being such a wise woman, sharing your wisdom with us.

Thank you so much. Thank you Scarlett Johansson: so much. Thank you. Thank you so much.

It's been a pleasure.