Scarlett Johansson is an A-list American actress and singer who earned widespread acclaim through cross-genre movie appearances — from period pieces and thrillers to drama and heroic action adventure.
Since her early days, fans have eagerly followed the star’s journey to stardom, and their curiosity about her personal life is only natural. With a vibrant love life filled with intriguing relationships and past marriages, there’s plenty to uncover about her romantic history
Highlights
- Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost began dating in 2017 after meeting on SNL.
- Jost proposed in May 2019 with an 11-carat engagement ring.
- The couple married in a private ceremony in 2020 due to COVID restrictions.
- In 2021, they welcomed a son named Cosmo, with Jost confirming on Instagram.
- Johansson values communication with Jost for a happy marriage.
In this piece, we’ll delve into Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost’s current relationship and why fans wholeheartedly support their romance.
Who Is Colin Jost?
Colin Jost is an American comedian and actor who has been a writer on Saturday Night Live since 2005. He started his early career as a journalist and then went on to write for Nickelodeon.
In 2005, he turned in a writing packet to Saturday Night Live and landed a post as one of its writers. He is currently the co-head writer on the show and has co-anchored the show’s Weekend Update segment since 2014.
In 2020, he released a memoir entitled “A Very Punchable Face: A Memoir,” which captured his brand of relatable, self-deprecating humor.
It takes smarts and impeccable timing to deliver a punchline, and the quick-witted 42-year-old Harvard cum laude has undoubtedly made a name for himself in the genre.
He’s headlined stand-up comedy shows, hosted the Primetime Emmy Awards (2018), and on April 27, 2024, Jost fronted the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, an annual gathering of reporters usually hosted by the sitting president.
When Scarlett Met Colin
Johansson and Jost first met on the Saturday Night Live comedy show. The actress first guest-hosted the show in 2006, and they met in the show’s writers’ room.
It was Jost’s first year as a writer on the show. In his memoir, the writer-comedian recalls the moment by saying: “She has just turned 20, and I was 23, but in terms of status and maturing she was here [holds hand above head] and I was here [holds hand one-inch off ground].”
“She claims that she remembers thinking I was ’cute,’ but I know what I looked like and that’s not the word I would have used (’Shaggy’ would have been generous. ’Slovenly,’ more accurate),” Jost continues.
Johansson would later become a guest host for the comedy show, and they maintained a friendship for the first time. In her account, Johansson considers her husband Colin Jost to have been in 2010 when she guest hosted Saturday Night Live for a second time.
“It was some dumb parody that he had written, and he was in there partly directing this segment we had to do,” Johansson told The Hollywood Reporter.
“That’s my first memory of him. He seemed very confident at the time. I don’t know if he felt that way, but in that environment, if you’re not confident as a writer, your stuff just never gets produced.”
While they had different memories of when they first caught each other’s eye, Jost and Johansson wouldn’t start dating until more than 10 years later in 2017, when Johansson made a special guest appearance on Saturday Night Live’s season finale of that year.
After that show in March 2017, Jost and Johansson were closer than usual and would make out a bit during the season finale party (per Page Six).
During that period, Johansson was finalizing her divorce from her French businessman husband, Romain Dauriac, with whom she shares a daughter, Rose Dorothy. Dauriac was Johansson’s second husband, following her earlier marriage to actor Ryan Reynolds from 2008 to 2010.
Jost and Johansson Relationship Timeline
After that encounter, the rumor mills churned with news about Jost and Johansson dating. This was confirmed when the comedian praised the “Avengers” star while being interviewed on the red carpet by Entertainment Tonight’s Lauren Zima at the 2017 Emmy Awards.
“She’s wonderful. She’s working, so otherwise, she’d be here,” Jost said when asked where his rumored girlfriend was.
Prodded further about whether Johansson was the one for him, he said, “She’s pretty cool … it’s hard to have a lot of complaints, she’s pretty awesome.” Then, when asked if he was happy, he couldn’t quite contain his giddiness: “I’m very happy. I feel very lucky.”
By September 2017, the two would be seen canoodling in public, like a Labor Day sighting (via Page Six), and in various paparazzi shots kissing in NYC and the Hamptons. In the same month, Johansson finalized her divorce from Dauriac.
On November 30, 2017, the two finally appeared at the New York City American Museum of Natural History gala as an official couple. A source told People that they had already met each other’s parents during Johansson’s private birthday bash at the Hamptons.
“They’re very much in love. It’s serious,” said Jost’s friend. “They’re both very respectful of each other’s careers and very supportive. They’re super cute together.”
An industry source also told People that “Scarlett likes to be in love and has not changed a bit in that area, Colin is good for her because she likes smart men, especially writer types.”
Adding to their meet-cute, the two were captured in heartwarming moments as their relationship progressed, like when they appeared together all PDA and snuggly on the December 16, 2017, episode of Saturday Night Live.
Major Milestones for Scarlett and Colin
After two years of dating, Johansson’s publicist, Marcel Pariseau, confirmed to the Associated Press that the two lovebirds finally engaged in May 2019.
Business Insider spotted Johansson sporting her 11-carat engagement ring when the Marvel star attended the Comic Con in San Diego. A report on Page Six estimated the stunning piece to be worth around $450,000.
TMZ reported that the Avengers star and the Saturday Night Live vet hit the swanky grounds of the Blue Hill Stone Barns on May 16, 2019, in Pocantico Hills, New York.
It’s about 30 miles outside New York City and sits on a vast farm. They reportedly arrived around 10 p.m. — just the two of them. While it is unclear whether the thoughtful and romantic proposal happened privately on the grounds, the two were indeed celebrating. Johansson was seen with her big rock as they got cozy and looked extremely happy.
The media outlet also reported that the couple called friends and family to share the news. The actress was seen sitting on the comic’s lap, and the two exchanged kisses. They left at around 1 a.m.
When Johansson hosted Saturday Night Live for the sixth time that same year on December 14, 2019, she addressed their relationship milestone in her opening spiel. “This place means so much to me,” she said. “I have so many friends here and I met the love of my life here.”
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A year after their engagement, the comic and the star finally married in an intimate and private ceremony on October 19, 2020. It was right at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, so they kept it sweet and simple.
Because of the pandemic restrictions, the two native New Yorkers wed in their home in Palisades, New York, with just a few friends and family (via The Knot).
In an interview about their “minimony,” she told People how they wanted to turn the tables on their COVID wedding, saying, “I think just keeping it intimate and small made it feel intentional. We wanted it to feel like it had an intentional intimacy as opposed to being something that felt like we were restricted by all these things.”
The actress said, “There was a lot to take into consideration because of all of the CDC guidelines and making sure everybody was comfortable and safe, following all the COVID protocol.”
News about their low-key marriage was likewise announced by Meals on Wheels @mealonwheelsamerica in an Instagram post on October 30, 2020. The couple’s wedding wish was to help make a difference for vulnerable older adults during this difficult time by supporting Mealsonwheelsamerica and the organization’s philanthropic efforts.
In 2021, the couple welcomed a baby boy, Cosmo. For the most part, they kept Johansson’s pregnancy a secret. However, during the promotional tour for Avenger’s Black Widow, the actress sometimes appeared in Zoom interviews, which got the media buzzing.
Eventually, on August 19, 2021, Jost confirmed the rumors via a post on his @colinjost account on Instagram.
In his usual comedic style, he hashtagged his caption with “#wegotawaywithitforalongtime,” “#nokidspolicy,” and “#we’regoingtodisneyworld.”
Johansson was thrilled to be a second-time mom. During a red carpet conversation with Entertainment Tonight, the actress claimed she felt very fortunate that she’s “been able to take this time to really enjoy the early stages of my motherhood with our son. It’s been wonderful. I’m in a ’baby bliss bubble.’”
Cosmo’s name is unique, and Johansson says on Live with Kelly and Mark on June 16, 2023, that the idea came to her in the wee hours of the morning.
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“I feel like it was a four in the morning decision, when you’re snapped awake. I’m like, ‘I’ve got it!’” she said. “It just suits him.”
The name, however, didn’t initially sit well with Jost’s mother, and the comic explained during a September 30, 2021, appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers that while his family is always very supportive, his mother would say she didn’t quite understand it.
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“She would call us, after three or four days, she’d be like, ’Cosmo...’ And she’d be like, ’And now, is it final? Like, did you submit the birth certificate?’ And we’re like, ’Oh, yeah, we did that at the hospital.’”
Finally, the comic said his mother finally accepted the child’s name after meeting several people named Cosmo. “So, then she would call, and she would say, ’I met someone — they said their uncle’s name is Cosmo, so it is okay.’ And I was like, ’It’s locked in,’” Colin laughed.
Johansson’s Past Marriages
The marriage between Jost, who was 38 then, and Johansson, then 34, marked their first union for him and her third. Johansson had previously been married to actor Ryan Reynolds and, later, to French journalist and art dealer Romain Dauriac.
Johansson and Reynolds were high-profile actors, and in a 2016 interview with Cosmopolitan (per Elle), the actress hinted at why their marriage turned rocky: “The logistics of being with another actor are challenging. There has to be a real understanding of how you share your time, especially when two people’s careers are going at the same rate. Or, even if one person is more successful than the other, that also proves challenging. There may be a competitive thing.”
While she didn’t mention names, it is easy to figure that she was alluding to her celebrity relationship with her first husband, who was growing in his career much like she was.
Image credits: Kevin Mazur / Getty Images
Her marriage with Reynolds lasted from 2008 to 2011. “I didn’t really have an understanding of marriage,” she told Vanity Fair. “Maybe I kind of romanticized it, I think, in a way. It’s a different part of my life now. I feel like I’m in a place in my life, I feel I’m able to make more active choices. I’m more present, I think, than I’ve been before.”
With Dauriac, with whom she shares a daughter, their divorce was reportedly caused by differences in their lifestyle. In an article in The Washington Post, Dauriac’s lawyer Hal Mayerson is quoted to have said: “Mr. Dauriac [was] tired of having to run his life and his child’s life based on Ms. Johansson’s shooting schedule.”
Johansson’s star was rising aggressively then, and her career took off. “There must exist a world in which I can balance those things, raise a family and still make a film a year, or work on my own, develop things, do theater. I want to be able to have it all,” she told The Wall Street Journal in 2014.
There were speculations about the reasons for their split, especially since Johansson had always been vocal about her thoughts on monogamy. While promoting Woody Allen’s Match Point in 2006, she mentioned in Today, “I don’t think human beings are monogamous creatures by nature.”
She spilled the same sentiments in Playboy (per Vanity Fair): “I think the idea of marriage is very romantic; it’s a beautiful idea, and the practice of it can be a very beautiful thing,” countering that with, “[but] I don’t think it’s natural to be a monogamous person.”
While the actress has kept mum about specific details of her divorce from Dauriac divorce, she was the one who instigated their separation and eventually filed for their divorce in public court in 2016, two years after they got married. Eventually, their divorce was finalized in 2017. They continue to co-parent their first child.
Her two failed marriages seemed to have helped Johansson finetune what she sought in a partner. In an interview on Parade in 2020, Johansson gushed to the media outlet that with Jost, things were different: “What you see is what you get with him. He’s very optimistic, easygoing, funny, nice, and those are the qualities that really drew me to him.”
Proving Love Can Last in Hollywood
Four years into their marriage and with their child, Cosmo, Jost, and Johansson have kept their marriage blissful. They maintain a playful vibe in their relationship, and the public witnesses this when they interact online and offline.
They share an adorable dynamic — they rib each other about their rival baseball teams, constantly gaze at each other on the red carpet, and react amusingly to each other’s antics during interviews.
Brands noticed the pair’s dynamic, and they appeared in an Amazon Superbowl ad in February 2022, showcasing their authentic interactions. The video received 69 million views.
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We also saw their cute dynamic when Johansson launched and tested her skincare line, The Outset, on her husband in October 2023. Jost was a willing victim in his wife’s attempt to test her product lineup.
Naturally, the comedian couldn’t help sharing his playful, supportive quips during the video, even though the actress was trying to stifle her laughter. The clip from The Outset channel received 998,000 views on YouTube.
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When observing the couple closely, it does seem convincing that Johansson has found her forever in Jost. When asked about the secret of a happy marriage during a conversation with CBS Mornings (per Harpers Bazaar), Johansson said she can’t claim to be an expert. But she also noted that she knows that she and Jost share something special: “We laugh a lot, and we communicate with one another and check in.”
She continued, “I’m married to a writer; he’s a comedy writer. He can get, like, very in his head sometimes; he’s sort of introverted. I’m extroverted, and so I think the key for us is just always checking in, just asking at the end of the day, ‘How was your day? (15)’"
Today, the couple are striving hard to make their marriage work, balancing the demands of both their careers and raising their family. Jost is reeling from a stint covering the Olympics and came from a multi-state comedy tour, while Johansson is busy filming the next installment of the blockbuster Jurassic Park.
An insider close to the couple told Life & Style, “Even though their careers take them far away from each other, they go the distance to make their relationship work.”