Scarlett Johansson jokes that dealing with her daughter when she was 3 years old was like 'being in an emotionally abusive relationship'

• Scarlett Johansson, who has two children, opened up about the challenges of raising children.
• When her daughter turned 3, the actor joked it was like being "in an emotionally abusive relationship."

Raising a child isn't easy. Just ask Scarlett Johansson.

The "Black Widow" actor, who has two children, opened up about the challenges of parenting during an April 2 episode of "The Skinny Confidential Him & Her" podcast.

"I remember my daughter," Johansson said. "My daughter is 8-and-a-half. When she was 2, I thought, 'This is great. I don't know what everybody is talking about.' And then she turned 3, and it was like being in an emotionally abusive relationship."

"It's just so intense. No reasoning. Very intense emotional swings and like, so bossy and adamant, and it's just crazy," she added.

Johansson added that having a child, mood swings aside, comes with its blessings too.

"Having a baby is so lovely," she said. "They're so cute. They sit there, and they love you, and then that's it. And you just get, like, love from them. Whereas you get a lot of grief from toddlers. Like, everything you do is not right, which is hard."

The actor also added that now that she's a mother, she thinks about work differently.

"I work, usually like, 15-hour days, you know, so if I'm gonna be working on something and have to relocate everybody, it's adventurous in some ways for the kids," Johansson said.

"But they also need stability, too. So now that my daughter is older, I don't work in the same way that I used to work when I was, you know, 25 years old," she said. "I was very career-driven and focused at that time, and less focused on personal growth."

Johansson had her daughter, Rose, with her ex-husband, former journalist Romain Dauriac. Johansson, also has a 20-month-old son named Cosmo, with actor and comedian Colin Jost.