Scarlett Johansson slammed an “outrageous” rumor about where she’s reportedly had sex, and said it used to be more “acceptable” to write “nasty” things like that about young actresses.
While the 37-year-old actress never named actor Benicio del Toro during her appearance on the “9 to 5ish with theSkimm” podcast Tuesday, it is her “Avengers: Infinity War” castmate who she’d been rumored in the past to have been involved with intimately in an elevator in 2004, reported the Daily Mail.
“There was a rumor that went around for a very long time that said that I had sex in an elevator,” Johansson explained during the interview.
“They probably still write those things about people, maybe, but I felt like when I was younger, it was more acceptable to write really nasty, slutty things about young actresses,” she added.
Scarlett Johansson slams 'nasty' sex rumor: 'Outrageous' https://t.co/C8W8P4tUFu
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 14, 2022
“That was a story that followed me for a long time, but I always thought that was outrageous,” the Marvel star continued. “And also, I always was, like, thinking to myself, ‘Oh, that would be tough.’ The very short period of … the logistics of that seem so unappealing to me. I’m the person who’s terrified of being caught doing something I’m not supposed to be doing. So, that made the story even that much more absurd to me, if you know me personally.”
The original rumor about the “Black Widow” star and del Toro hooking up in a Chateau Marmont elevator reportedly started after the 55-year-old Oscar-winning actor played coy about the rumor during an interview in 2005 for Esquire magazine, reported Fox News.
“Did I ever have sex in an elevator with Scarlett Johansson after an awards show?” Benicio repeated. “I kind of like, you know, I, well. I don’t know.”
“Let’s leave that to somebody’s imagination,” he added. “Let’s not promote it. I’m sure it has happened before. It might not be the last time either.”
As previously reported by The Daily Wire, Johansson previously talked about the initial “hyper-sexualization” of her character in the Marvel franchise and how that has since changed:
“All of that is related to that move away from the kind of hyper-sexualization of this character and, I mean, you look back at Iron Man 2 and while it was really fun and had a lot of great moments in it, the character is so sexualized, you know?” she continued. “Really talked about like she’s a piece of something, like a possession or a thing or whatever — like a piece of a**, really. And Tony (Stark, the character of Iron Man) even refers to her as something like that at one point. What does he say?”
“I want some,” Collider informed her.
“‘I want some,’ Johannson agreed. “Yeah and at one point calls her a piece of meat and maybe at that time that actually felt like a compliment. You know what I mean? Because my thinking was different. Maybe I even would have, you know, my own self-worth was probably measured against that type of comment or, like a lot of young women, you come into your own and you understand your own self-worth. It’s changing now. Now people, young girls, are getting a much more positive message, but it’s been incredible to be a part of that shift and be able to come out the other side and be a part of that old story, but also progress. Evolve. I think it’s pretty cool.”