Scarlet Johansson speaks 'scrutiny' she felt during pregnancy: 'You expect if from men'

Scarlett Johansson is candidly touching upon her struggles to brave through public comments on her body during pregnancy.

Speaking with Vanity Fair about her new skincare brand The Outset, the mother-of-two explained how the experience served as a 'reset' in her life. 

"Obviously having children is the biggest life-changing thing. I have two children, [and] after having my daughter [Rose], it took me a long time to have that kind of new-beginning feeling," the actress shared. "I was so in it in that primary, preoccupied phase, where you're still connected to your baby. And then I went into work pretty quickly after that. I always felt like I was trying to keep up and create some sort of work-life balance, which I think is probably a lie."

Johansson added, "It wasn't until my daughter was more independent of me, probably around two, where I rediscovered myself. I was like, 'What is most important to me in my life?' I felt like the work that I was doing and the choices that I was making personally should be intentional in a certain kind of way, where I didn't want to feel like life was happening to me. I knew more what I didn't want in my life and in my career."

The Black Widow star admitted she was "so protective" during her pregnancies since she did not want "to feel scrutinized in the public eye."

She added, "I wanted to be able to have my own feelings about my changing body without other people also telling me how they saw me, whether it was positive or negative."

It was during her pregnancy with son, Cosmo that she truly grasped "how much stuff people put on you when you're pregnant — their hopes or their judgment or their desire, a lot of that is put on pregnant women. I would have a lot of people saying things to me immediately, like, 'How great, oh my God, that's wonderful.' "

"While I was definitely excited to be pregnant in some ways, I also had a lot of not-great feelings about it, and that would be scrutinized by — I'm talking about, like, women that were close to me. You expect it from men, but from women, it's like, 'Come on, girl, you've been through it.' "