Scarlett Johansson on Motherhood: “I Want to Be Able to Have it All”
A few months ago I was at a press junket for a film and someone asked the lead actress how she juggled parenting with performing. Everyone in the room had their pens poised at the ready to write down pearls of wisdom. The actress paused and sort of chuckled and said, "You know, I bet [male lead] never gets asked these kinds of questions."
Wall Street Journal Magazine just published a fantastic piece about Scarlett Johansson, and when the conversation shifted towards motherhood and balance, Scarlett got directly to that point. She said:
"There must exist a world in which I can balance those things, be able to raise a family and still make a film a year, or work on my own, develop things, do theater. I want to be able to have it all. [She laughs.] Selfishly.
I know that with that there will be some sacrifices. I know that's the struggle with working mothers and successful careers. It happens. With [male actors] it just doesn't happen that way. You can be every woman's fantasy, and nobody thinks twice about the fact that you have eight kids or whatever."
Related: 10 famous moms caught breastfeeding in public (and we have the pics!)
I think Scarlett is so spot-on with this, and it's something mothers in all occupations deal with. Women are the traditional caregivers to children in a household, and society tends to look to them to take on the most work for child-raising. I have female friends who travel a lot for work and they are asked all the time, "Who is taking care of the children?!" Meanwhile when their husbands travel no one asks because the assumption has been made.
Scarlett is engaged to Romain Dauriac. WSJ describes him as a "former magazine editor turned creative director of a French ad agency." Her pregnancy was announced earlier this month.
-Photo Credit: PCN
-By: Dresden Shumaker
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