Scarlett Johansson once made a surprisingly candid admission about marriage, suggesting that staying faithful to one person might go against human nature. But there's an important detail behind her provocative comments: she made them nearly a decade ago, and her views on relationships are more nuanced than the headline-grabbing quote suggests.
The actress expressed her thoughts in a 2017 interview with Playboy, describing marriage as a beautiful romantic ideal while questioning whether monogamy comes naturally to people.
"I don't think it's natural to be a monogamous person," Johansson said, before acknowledging that maintaining an exclusive relationship requires considerable effort.
Her comments attracted attention at the time, particularly because reports had recently emerged that she and her second husband, French journalist Romain Dauriac, had separated.
However, interpreting those remarks as a rejection of marriage entirely misses a significant part of what Johansson was actually saying.
Scarlett Johansson's views on monogamy go back even further
Johansson's scepticism about monogamy wasn't something she suddenly developed in 2017.
As Vanity Fair documented, she had expressed similar views while promoting her film Match Point in 2006, questioning whether human beings are naturally inclined towards lifelong exclusivity.
But in a 2008 interview with Cosmopolitan, she clarified an important distinction: believing monogamy might not be instinctive did not mean she rejected committed relationships or true love.
In fact, Johansson explained that she had always been in monogamous relationships and had no desire to pursue an open one.
That distinction changes the meaning of her later Playboy interview. Rather than arguing that people should abandon fidelity, she was questioning whether remaining faithful is an automatic human instinct or a deliberate commitment that requires ongoing effort.
What Scarlett Johansson has said about marriage to Colin Jost
Johansson's personal life has also changed substantially since those comments were published.
After her marriages to Ryan Reynolds and Romain Dauriac ended, she began dating Saturday Night Live comedian Colin Jost in 2017. The couple married in October 2020 and welcomed their son, Cosmo, in 2021.
During an April 2023 appearance on Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop podcast, Johansson offered another perspective on what makes a lasting relationship work.
She explained that understanding her fundamental needs in a partner had been an important personal lesson. In particular, she identified compassion as an essential quality and credited that understanding with helping her relationship with Jost.
The couple have continued to discuss their marriage publicly. In September 2026, Jost spoke to People about Johansson's amused but cautious attitude towards the retired Staten Island Ferry he purchased with Pete Davidson.
None of this establishes that Johansson has abandoned her earlier beliefs about human nature. Nor does it mean that her 2017 comments were a prediction about her future relationships.
What the interviews demonstrate is that Johansson has consistently distinguished between the idea of monogamy being natural and the personal decision to pursue a committed relationship.
Her remarks about marriage requiring work were genuine. But treating them as a recent declaration against fidelity would overlook both when they were made and what she has said about commitment since.
