Scarlett Johansson calls out 'demeaning' porn for using her face

scarlett johansson rub and tug
(Image credit: Stephen Lovekin/Variety/REX/Shutterstock)

Scarlett Johansson has spoken out about her face being used in 'deepfake' porn, which is superimposes real people's heads onto computer-generated bodies, creating eerily life-like virtual porn.

Sadly, the actress' image has been edited into dozens of those videos, which usually involve humiliating women.

She admitted that although she finds the practice 'demeaning', there's nothing she can do about it.

The 34-year-old told the Washington Post, 'Clearly this doesn’t affect me as much because people assume it’s not actually me in a porno, however demeaning it is. I think it’s a useless pursuit, legally, mostly because the internet is a vast wormhole of darkness that eats itself. There are far more disturbing things on the dark web than this, sadly.'

She added that although she was one of the 'lucky ones', other women might lose their jobs over this, 'It’s a fruitless pursuit for me but a different situation than someone who loses a job over their image being used like that.'

Scarlett also pointed out that frustratingly, even if she was protected by copyright laws in the US, she might not be able to protect her image in another country.

'Every country has their own legalese regarding the right to your own image, so while you may be able to take down sites in the U.S. that are using your face, the same rules might not apply in Germany,' she said, 'I have sadly been down this road many, many times. The fact is that trying to protect yourself from the internet and its depravity is basically a lost cause, for the most part.'

The actress was also the victim, alongside other celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence, of a hacker back in 2011, who stole nude photos and posted them online.

While this clearly proves the world is still full of questionable people (to use a nice word), it at least opens up the conversation around a problem most didn't know existed.

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.