Scarlett Johansson, 41, says being a good parent doesn’t mean getting everything right.
Speaking to CBS Sunday Morning, the actor said having her first kid was a “big turning point” that made her realize she couldn’t “control anything.”
“Everything changes all the time, and I found that to be liberating. And it affected how I approached the work that I did,” Johansson said.
Johansson has two children: daughter Rose, whom she shares with ex-husband Romain Dauriac, and son Cosmo with her husband, Colin Jost.
She added that her definition of success as a parent is doing her best, even when her choices aren’t popular.
“Somebody once told me, they were like, ‘If you’re successful as a parent like 75% of the time, that’s good.’ You know, like if you’re doing 75% of it, like, ‘right’ or whatever, then you’re winning. Which is probably true,” she said.
That perspective also shapes how she approaches the other parts of her life.
Johansson said work-life balance isn’t really possible, and coming to terms with that is the “first step” to managing all her responsibilities. She added that there’s often “a deficit in some area” of her life.
“I’ve learned to be more kind to myself in that way. Like, you can’t do all of these things all the time, and so, you know, there’s just like, is it good enough?” Johansson said.
Other Hollywood moms have also spoken about the challenge of balancing it all.
Speaking to Parents in September, “Grey’s Anatomy” actor Camilla Luddington said she accepts that there is “no balance” when it comes to managing work and kids.
“To take the pressure off, I’ll be like, ‘You know what? Today I’m probably going to be better at my job than I am at parenting because I’m on set all day. But tomorrow I’m off and I can be a better parent,'” she said.
During an October appearance on “Call Her Daddy,” Shonda Rhimes said it was a “relief” to learn she could only do so much at once as a working mom.
“It’s never going to happen. You’re never going to feel amazing at both. It’s always going to be a little bit, you know, shaky. So let it be shaky,” she said.
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