Scarlett Johansson Opens Up About Family, New Skin Care Line

Scarlett Johansson Opens Up About Family, New Skin Care Line

Scarlett Johansson is one of those actors who can do it all, from saving the universe in the Marvel franchise to making us cry in something like Marriage Story and hitting high notes as the talented Porcupine Insane. 

But now she's trying something totally different. She's launching a business of her very own. It's a skincare line, and it's called The Outset. Scarlet, first of all, congratulations on your weather. We're getting a dressing room and just letting you know I provided tons of useful information for everybody. You're trying so many new things, which I think is cool. Some people have their lane and they say, this is my lane and I'm going to stay in it. 

What made you decide, you know, what?

I want to take a crack at maybe being an entrepreneur. Maybe that would work for me. I was interested in learning this new industry, and I felt like I had a point of view and something to say here, and I was really just, like, diving head first into a whole world I didn't know, and having a startup is the whole crazy thing. Well, I tried your face cleanser. I put it in the shower and try it this morning. When I was done, I was like, oh, my gosh. It just felt, like, soft. But this is something you worked on. This isn't something you slapped your name on and said, okay, let's yeah. It definitely would have been probably easier in some ways to license my name and work with a larger company that had an infrastructure, but I'm a little controlling. I felt like it would be an authentic to do it that way. I really wanted to have my hands in all of it, and it was time-consuming and challenging, especially developing this line over the pandemic. But I'm so proud of our products and I'm so proud of our team and the community that we're building, and I just can't believe I'm here talking about it. Five years out. Five years. Five years just testing and trying and oh, we definitely wanted to make sure that we weren't just making products for two people. So we did all of our consumer research, and it turns out that 96% of people that we ask really are happy with the quality of their skin. They want to maintain the skin that they have. Yeah. And so we really, like, went with that and created this beautiful line. 

Well, a lot of things have happened over the pandemic. You have a cute little baby. I have a little baby boy.

What's that? Nine months old. Nine months old. How is that?

It's been just wonderful. And I really had, I think because of the time that we were all kind of confined and home and with our families and stuff, it actually allowed me the space to make a nest and enjoy all that. Yeah. That blissful, delicious time.

Do you think it changed you permanently in a way that you live. 

I think sometimes we've left that nest now and everything is kind of getting back.

Have you held on to some of those things? 

It's hard because I think as we're all sort of re entering society, it feels at times like we're kind of bombarded with a lot. And I think you feel the energy of that in the zeitgeist. But for me, I worked so frequently and was just sort of plowing into project after project and work that I love to do. It's hard when you're an actor, it's such a competitive field. You're always afraid if you lose a job, you're like, I might never work again after that. Which is totally crazy. But it's the way we're sort of programmed and I think because we were all sort of forced into this time that was confiding in a way. It allowed me to really, I don't know, just, I think to be thoughtful about how I wanted to spend my time and what I wanted to prioritize. And I think I'll carry that with me for forever. It sounds like all your priorities are straight.

You've got your new little baby, you've got this great new product line that you've launched, and congratulations. What a good time in your life.

Yeah, it's been really rewarding, I think, in this whole new way to have to be as an actor, you'resort of removed from your audience in a way. 

Obviously you get fan feedback and stuff like that, but working with the outset and working directly with our consumers and working with people that in this intimate way, you have a connection with people that it's very new for me and it's wonderful.

Well, I'm loving it. Really happy for you. The outset, by the way, available at sephora starting today.