Scarlett Fever

Entrepreneur, mother, superhero and now Hollywood’s highest-grossing actress, it’s no coincidence that Scarlett Johansson’s latest kickass role is (rather aptly) named the Major. Here, she talks politics, hen parties and playing it cool.

- Brooke Hauser

In 2015, Scarlett Johansson was presenting at the Oscars, walking the red carpet in an emerald Atelier Versace gown and a dramatic matching Swarovski necklace. But she was more concerned with another accessory. ‘I had to bring my breast pump, because I was nursing and every ounce is like liquid gold,’ says the actress, who had given birth to her daughter Rose five months earlier. After the ceremony, she was reunited with it in the company of mutual friends Kelly Ripa and her husband, Mark Consuelos, but not for long.

‘Somehow, Mark got hold of my breast pump – [it was] in a bag with all the milk, ice packs and shit. He grabbed the bag out of my hand,’ Johansson recalls. He was just trying to help, she explains, ‘but our cars got separated. Apparently, Kelly looked over, and she was like, “Wait a minute. Is that Scarlett’s breast pump? We’ve got to get it back!” because she knew how panicked I would be. We finally ended up at the same party three hours later, and Mark was like, “I’m so sorry.”’

Johansson, 32, laughs her throaty laugh and takes a sip of Rooibos tea. Sitting with her in the Gotham Lounge at The Peninsula hotel in Manhattan, it’s hard not to feel a sense of kinship. Minutes ago, I was pumping in the hotel bathroom – she told me her story in solidarity. ‘It’s very humbling,’ she says of motherhood. When I absentmindedly shift around my maternity bra, she asks, ‘How’s your boobs? Are they square? That was always my favourite.’