Scarlett Johansson has spoken out about women being ‘pulled apart for the way they looked’ when she started in the industry.
The Lost in Translation star, 41, revealed she felt she was ‘pigeon-holed’ in her roles and was left so image conscious she would get up extra early to pile on a full face of make-up so co-workers wouldn’t see her acne.
She admitting it was partly because she felt ‘self-conscious’ about her skin but she was also fearful about being criticised over her appearance.
Speaking on CBS Sunday Morning, she said: ‘You do feel self-conscious. I felt like I had to wake up and cover all this acne before I got to work, which is a lot of effort…
‘It weighs on you. I know how debilitating it can be to feel self-conscious about the quality of your skin.’
Scarlett went on to add it was ‘tough’ when a young woman in the early 2000s because it was a ‘really harsh time’.
The actress has frequently played sexier roles and spoke about being cast as ‘the side piece or other woman’, such as her part in 2009’s He’s Just Not That Into You, in which her character Anna had an affair with Bradley Cooper’s character Ben.
She said: ‘Being a twenty-year-old woman old in the early 2000s in the spotlight … It was a really harsh time. I think women were just pulled apart for the way they looked in a way that was socially acceptable at the time…
‘It was tough. There was a lot placed on how women looked. What was offered at that time for women my age, as far as acting roles or opportunities, was much slimmer than it is now …
‘You would get really pigeon-holed and offered the same [roles]. It would be like the other woman, or the side piece, the bombshell. That was the archetype that was a lot of when I was that age.’
Scarlett explained she had been feeling self-conscious about her skin at work ever since she was a 13-year-old actress on the set of 1998 drama The Horse Whisperer.
She said: ‘[I’ve] been dealing with my own skin struggles since I was 12. And on the set of The Horse Whisperer I remember the make-up artist being like: ‘Oh you’ve got Mount Vesuvius on your forehead’…
‘As a pre-teen adolescent you’re so self-conscious and you’ve got a make-up artist pointing it out and you’re working on set and people are trying to light around it. That’s just awful.’
Scarlett – who set up her own skincare company The Outset which specialises in products for sensitive skin – also revealed the advice she now gives to her daughter Rose, who will turn 12 later this year.
She said: ‘I always say to her … be gentle on yourself … be gentle on your skin.’
