Scarlett Johansson Recalls Being ‘Weird’ On Her First Date With Colin Jost

Scarlett Johansson recently opened up about the start of her romance with Colin Jost, admitting she acted “weird” and “panicked” when they went on their first date.

The two-time divorcee explained that before Jost, no one had “ever asked” her out, and so she was “flustered” and quite naive about how to go about it.

In his 2020 memoir, Colin Jost described meeting Scarlett Johansson for the first time and revealed that he feared he was out of her league.

Johansson’s romance with her husband Jost seemingly kicked off in an awkward way, as she seemingly didn’t have enough experience before him.

During her guest co-hosting effort on Monday’s episode of “Today With Jenna & Friends,” the 41-year-old actress said that before Jost, no one “had ever asked” her out, and so the experience was kind of novel to her when her now-husband did.

“Nobody had ever asked me out before,” Johansson said on the show, per the New York Post. “I was a serial monogamist, and I never got the sort of traditional like, ‘Hey, would you like to have dinner sometime?'”

“He actually asked me out on a date,” she recalled. “We went to an Italian restaurant in the East Village. It was a lovely date. We had dinner. Afterward, he was like, ‘I’m meeting friends, let’s go grab a drink,’ and I hadn’t dated basically ever, so I was just like, ‘I have to go now.’ I need to leave.'”

The couple, who first met on the set of “Saturday Night Live” in 2006, didn’t officially begin dating until several years later in 2017.

However, when Jost eventually popped the question, the “Black Widow” actress found herself struggling and acting “weird” on her first date with the writer, who thought there was no way they were going to work out.

That day, she “got home to relieve” her babysitter late in the evening, but she explained that the helper was shocked and asked her, “Why are you home?”

“I was like, ‘I went on this date, and it was…’ I just felt so flustered,'” she explained.

And as it appears, her awkward behavior was quite obvious as she noted that Jost brought it up later.

“Later on, he was like, ‘I totally thought that was it. You were acting so weird,'” Johansson recalled. “I panicked. I don’t know.”

The “awkward” date clearly didn’t deter the pair, as they went on to date for three years before tying the knot in October 2020. They welcomed their first child, a son named Cosmo, in 2021.

In his memoir, “A Very Punchable Face,” he recounted his first impression of the actress after he met her for the first time on the set of “Saturday Night Live” in 2006, sharing how he thought he didn’t match up to the movie star.

“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],” he wrote. “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.”

He went further to add that she had “a grace and a smile that I’ve still never seen in any other human.”

Earlier this year, Johansson sparked buzz after boldly kissing her male “Jurassic World” co-star, Jonathan Bailey, on the red carpet during the film’s premieres.

Despite rumors that he would be angry about his wife’s behavior, Jost had a witty take on the viral photos of Johansson and Bailey kissing.

While speaking with Entertainment Tonight, the “SNL” star poked fun at the internet’s reaction, joking that he and Bailey might need to share a kiss of their own just to even the score.

“Jonathan and I, at the [‘Jurassic World Rebirth’] red carpet, we were like, ‘I guess we have to kiss now? Is that what happens?” he joked.

He leaned into the “Jurassic Park” references, teasing, “I guess in ‘Jurassic Park’ terms, the attack always comes from the raptor you never thought was there. Of all the threats out there, I wasn’t thinking it was Jonathan.”

Jost further noted that he didn’t view the openly gay Bailey, 37, as a romantic rival.

“He didn’t seem like the biggest threat,” the comedian joked, adding, “I think it’s going to be OK.”

During a 2024 appearance on “Live with Kelly and Mark,” Johansson joked about her husband’s “naughty side,” claiming it helps spice their marriage.

“He’s also got his naughty side, you know. That’s why he keeps it interesting,” the actress said of the “Saturday Night Live” star.

Host Mark Consuelos then asked the actress about the Staten Island ferry that Jost purchased alongside pal Pete Davidson in 2022, to which Johansson jokingly replied, “That’s the naughty part I was talking about.”

“It is, yep, still decommissioned,” she added, seemingly poking fun at the financial issues tied to the ferry.

Johansson, however, praised her husband for finding ways to make use of the pricey Staten Island ferry, noting how it was the site for Tommy Hilfiger’s New York Fashion Week show.

“Huge success, so if anybody has, like, a bat mitzvah they need to throw, yeah, please go to Rent-a-Ferry.com,” the actress joked. “It’ll really make our family happy.”