Scarlett Johansson says having a toddler is like being in an 'emotionally abusive relationship'

Scarlett Johansson has compared having a toddler to being in an ‘emotionally abusive relationship’.

The 39-year-old spoke candidly about being a mother during Monday’s episode of The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast.

She’s the parent of two children, eight-year-old daughter Rose with ex Romain Dauriac and one-year-old son, Cosmo, with husband and SNL star Colin Jost.

The Black Widow star recalled a change in her daughter’s behaviour when she turned three which ultimately had a stark impact on her perspective about motherhood.

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Speaking to podcast hosts Lauryn and Michael Bosstick, the Black Widow star said: “I remember my daughter when she was two, I said, ‘This is great I don’t know what everybody is talking about', and then she turned three and it’s like being in an emotionally abusive relationship.”

The Marriage Story actor said things became ‘crazy’ when Rose turned three and she couldn’t do any ‘reasoning’ with her daughter.

“Very intense emotional swings and adamant and like, it’s just crazy.” It sounds like little Rose had a ‘huge’ mood swings according to her mother. “And, also these hugs mood swings, constant mood swings,” she shared.

Johansson clarified she felt bad for her child when she had mood swings and compared the three-year-old stage to her son who is still in the ‘so lovely’ baby stage.

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“Those poor little guys, I feel bad for them, it must be a lot… you’re like up and down constantly.”

She added: “They’re so cute. They sit there and they love you and then that’s it and you just get love from them.”

The Marvel star keeps her children out of the spotlight and avoids posting them online, which isn’t too difficult because she doesn’t use social media herself.

“I honestly am too fragile of a person to have social media,” she confessed. “My ego is too fragile. I can’t deal with it. My brain is too fragile, I’m like a delicate flower. I have enough anxiety, honestly.”

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Johansson has previously shared titbits about her daughter and in a March 2022 interview she discussed how Rose had reached the stage where she questions everything her mother does.

Speaking to InStyle, Johansson recalled how her daughter asked: “’Why are you tweezing your eyebrows? Why are you curling your lashes? What’s a tampon? What’s it for?”

“She asked me why my underwear went up my butt crack, and I had to try to explain what a panty line was,” Johansson continued. “I was like, “’cause you don’t want a line in your pants,’ and she was like ‘Why?’ And I was like, “’cause then you could see my underwear,’ and she was like ‘But you are wearing underwear.’ Like I know, it’s weird.”