CULTURE

How Scarlett Johansson Kept Her Pregnancy Hidden

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 9, 2020 -- Scarlett Johansson R and Colin Jost arrive for the red carpet of the 92...
Xinhua News Agency/Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images

We’re not sure when, exactly, Scarlet Johansson gave birth, but we know she has—her husband Colin Jost made the announcement on Instagram today, revealing that the child’s name was Cosmo. But the actual news seemed to be broken in a Deadline Hollywood column detailing Johansson’s recent legal battle with Disney over her Black Widow pay. The column suggests that Disney publicly released a blistering response to Johansson’s lawsuit on the very day she was in labor in the hospital, which would have been July 28th. Whatever the case, Johansson managed to keep her pregnancy a secret even while promoting one of the summer’s biggest blockbusters. How did she do it?

Well, for one thing, Johansson never walked the red carpet at any of Black Widow’s official premieres or associated fan events (even though co-star Florence Pugh was on hand in Prada). (Maybe you figured it was because she was seething at Disney’s hybrid release strategy, but it may have been because she was actually quite pregnant.) Indeed, Johansson hasn’t been seen on a major red carpet since the Vanity Fair Oscars party back in February 2020.

Johansson did, however, do a promotional circuit for the film. She did spots on major programs like Good Morning America and Late Night With Seth Meyers as well as video-centric web content for outlets like Glamour, Entertainment Weekly, and LadBible. We’ve seen heavier press tours of course, but Johansson wasn’t slacking when it came to her promotional duties for the film. It’s just that she did all of those interviews via Zoom, with tightly cropped camera angles and presumably from the comfort of her own home. She’s reportedly been staked out in the Hamptons along with Jost throughout much of the past year and a half.

For her LadBible segment, she was dressed in a chunky, coral sweater.

Screenshot via LadTV

On Good Morning America, the Zoom camera was cropped tight, and Johansson was dressed in a denim shirt.

screenshot via ABC News

Johansson may have been up to eight months pregnant during these segments, but the audience was none the wiser.

One of Johansson’s other major media appearances this year was Zooming into the MTV Movie & Television awards back in May. For that segment she was “slimed” by her husband.

Kevin Mazur/2021 MTV Movie and TV Awards/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

A cheeky announcement via Jost’s Instagram (Johansson famously has no social media accounts of her own) is also on par for the couple. Jost also announced their wedding back in October 2020 via his Instagram account. At the time he also used the announcement to urge fans to donate to Meals on Wheels America. This time, he used the announcement to play a prank on his Weekend Update co-host Michael Che. (Swipe through to the second slide for that.) In any event, the child is the first for Jost. Johansson also has another child, Rose, from a previous marriage.