Scarlett Johansson Has A Hack For The Perfect Cappuccino

In Chill Chat, Bustle sits down with stars to chat about all things wellness, from their favorite skin care products to their hacks for getting a good night’s sleep. Here, Scarlett Johansson shares the surprising ways she relaxes, the workout that keeps her going, and more.

It takes seconds to sail up to the 70th-floor penthouse overlooking New York City’s Central Park, where Scarlett Johansson warmly welcomes me into the wildly luxurious space as if I’m an old friend.

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” The Avengers star cheekily admits to me, referring to my pregnant belly. “How far along are you?”

Before the interview began, she’s excited to give me a bit of new-mom advice (i.e., putting belly butter on my chest and bum, too), worries about how my bump was going to fit into a winter coat (I’m due in February), and fondly reminisces about her own children, who were both born in the heat of August.

“Both of my pregnancies, I was extremely pregnant in the summertime, which I think is a little easier,” she says. “[Now] I have a 3-year-old son and a 10-year-old daughter, and there's a lot of screaming and violent outbursts, like mortal enemies that also snuggle and fall asleep together. So that's what's happening currently in the house.”

Here, Johansson opens up about raising two kids, the latest launch from her sensitive skin-minded brand, The Outset, how she finds peace in New York’s chaos, and more.

What inspired you to add Lip Oasis to The Outset’s current lineup?

We'd been formulating and exploring the lip category since before we launched the brand — it’s been challenging because there's usually a lot of waxes and stabilizers in lip products, which don’t meet this very high standard we’ve created for ourselves in the clean skin category.

We initially created the Rescue Bomb as a lip treatment, but ended up using it on everything — you could use it for your cuticles, your hair, your elbows, your heels... but it doesn't have the high gloss that the Lip Oasis does.

I have extremely painfully dry lips, so for me, it was essential that it had the same uber-moisturizing properties that the rest of our line does. It also performs like a gloss. You can put it over your lip liner or your lipstick and customize your look.

What does your oasis look like at home?

It's hard currently to imagine because I have [two kids] — but just being home and having dinner together every night brings me so much joy. I didn't grow up eating dinner at the table very often, so I created that tradition for our family.

I don't want you to think that it is relaxing, though — it’s not.

How do you relax?

If I have a day off and my kids are with their grandparents, which is a gift, I'll usually go and I'll get a massage, I’ll get a pedicure. I love to walk through Central Park, meet a friend, sit and have a coffee, gossip. Colin [Jost] and I will go for a date night, I love to go to the theater here in New York, I'll go and see an exhibition with my dad. I'll see my sister, we'll go to Forty Carrots and get frozen yogurt and gossip about our family, the usual.

When you’re not training for a film, what does your workout routine look like?

I'll work out for about an hour, and I try to get at least three or four days in. It’s also part of my mental well-being. I like to do Pilates — that's my scene. If I don't have a reformer, I do floor Pilates. Even if you can get in 30 minutes, it makes a big difference.

What’s your signature perfume?

I love Hermès Terre, I wear it all the time. There’s also a perfume company called Strange Invisible Perfumes — they make amazing perfumes out of California — I like one called Magazine Street.

Coffee or tea?

I do like chamomile tea, but I'm a coffee person. I usually do an oat milk cappuccino, although someone recently taught me that you need to say dry cappuccino. That's how you get all the foam and not as much of the milk.

Physical book or Kindle?

I like paper books, but I also love Audible. I recently listened to the reading that Jeremy Irons did of Lolita. It is incredible. That book is so disturbing.

I've seen both films, but those movies... I don't want to say they don’t do the book justice exactly, but the films don't incorporate the psychological complexity and actual trauma of the book. I highly recommend listening to [his] reading of it — it's phenomenal.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.