Actress Scarlett Johansson says she’s not sure people are cut out to be in monogamous relationships which, she believes, require “a lot of work.”
“I think the idea of marriage is very romantic; it’s a beautiful idea, and the practice of it can be a very beautiful thing,” the 32-year-old actress said in a feature interview for this month’s issue of Playboy magazine. “I don’t think it’s natural to be a monogamous person. I might be skewered for that, but I think it’s work. It’s a lot of work.”
“And the fact that it is such work for so many people — for everyone — the fact of that proves that it is not a natural thing,” Johansson adds. “It’s something I have a lot of respect for and have participated in, but I think it definitely goes against some instinct to look beyond.”
The Avengers actress said being married is far “different” than not being married, and “anybody who tells you that it’s the same is lying.”
“It changes things,” she said. “I have friends who were together for 10 years and then decided to get married, and I’ll ask them on their wedding day or right after if it’s different, and it always is. It is. It’s a beautiful responsibility, but it’s a responsibility.”
The star of Ghost in the Shell and her husband, French journalist Roman Dauriac, separated in January and have a 2-year-old daughter. Johansson also was previously married to actor Ryan Reynolds from 2008 to 2011.
Last week, Johansson told Entertainment Tonight she is “barely holding it together” as a working mother.
“I don’t profess to know anything about parenting, anything more than anybody else, [but] being a working mom is an incredible challenge, [and] it’s an incredible gift,” she said. “I think you always feel a little bit of guilt… If you’re at work, you feel like you’re missing out on those special moments with your kid. If you’re with your kid, you feel like you’re not giving enough to your job. It’s a balance.”
The actress marched in the pro-abortion, anti-Trump Women’s March last month after announcing, “I am marching on Washington to let our next president know that we, men and women alike, will not stand down or be silenced and will fight to protect our bodies and our choices.”