As workers seek the almost unattainable balance between professional ambitions and personal life, one of Hollywood’s highest-paid stars brings a reality check. For Scarlett Johansson, the idea of perfectly balancing work and life is more fantasy than reality.
“I think actually admitting that there is no work-life balance is the first step to getting there somehow, because it’s just not possible,” Johansson — best known for her role as Black Widow in the Marvel franchise — told CBS Sunday Morning.
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The actress stated that there will almost always be some “deficit”, whether at work or at home — and, over time, she learned to accept that not everything can be done perfectly.
“I’ve learned to be kinder to myself in that sense. You can’t do all these things all the time,” Johansson said. “In the end, the question remains: ‘Is it good enough?’”
As Scarlett Johansson has taken on more roles in her life, including launching a skincare brand, raising two children (born in 2014 and 2021) and balancing a marriage, she said her definition of success has evolved. As a mother, in particular, she said that this means doing what is right, even if it doesn’t always make her the “most popular”.
“Someone once told me, ‘If you get it right as a parent 75% of the time, you’re great — if you do 75% of things right, you’re winning,’ which is probably true,” Johansson said.
Scarlett Johansson grew up dependent on food stamps
Johansson was the fourth highest-paid actress of 2025, behind Adam Sandler, Tom Cruise and Mark Wahlberg, according to Forbes. His net worth is estimated to be around $165 million by Celebrity Net Worth.
But growing up in Manhattan in a family of six, she has said that money was often scarce during her childhood. In a 2017 interview with Entertainment Tonight, he recalled that his family depended on welfare and food stamps to survive.
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At the age of nine, Johansson had already begun acting, landing her first role in the 1994 comedy North, directed by Rob Reiner. Her rise to stardom accelerated with films such as Love and Love, Marriage Story and a string of Marvel hits that culminated in the 2021 solo film Black Widow.
In addition to acting, Johansson has also occasionally used her platform for public and political activism, including a longtime support of feminism and women’s rights, as well as campaigning against President Donald Trump’s re-election.
Her career has even placed her at the center of debates about artificial intelligence. In 2024, Johansson publicly accused OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman of using a voice for the company’s chatbot that sounded surprisingly similar to hers after she declined to participate in the project.
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Professionals agree: balance is not always possible
Johansson is not alone in questioning whether there is a true work-life balance — even though it has become one of the main motivating factors for job seekers. Many high performers echoed the same sentiment: achieving the highest level of success often comes with resignations.
Emma Watson, best known for playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series, said the intense demands of filming made balance seem almost unattainable while growing up in the spotlight.
“I just used to completely sacrifice myself for whatever I was trying to achieve,” Watson said on the On Purpose podcast last year.
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“Making films requires such intense journeys that having your own life on the side, achieving that balance, is almost impossible.”
This same mentality extends beyond Hollywood. Emma Grede, CEO of Good American and founding partner of Skims, argued that extraordinary success inevitably requires extraordinary effort.
“If you’re leading an extraordinary life, to think that extraordinary effort wouldn’t come together in some way is crazy,” Grede said on The Diary of a CEO in 2025 podcast.
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If it’s possible to have a true work-life balance, she continued, “tell me who this person is and I’ll show you a liar.”
Even former President Barack Obama admitted that it will not always be possible to have a balance between work and personal life.
Speaking on The Pivot podcast last year, he said: “If you want to be great at anything — sports, music, business, politics — there will be periods in your life when you are off balance, when you are just working and completely focused on it.”
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