Scarlett Johansson’s Family Were Surprised by Her ‘Today’ Show Guest Host Gig: ‘I Cannot Believe It’

Scarlett Johansson’s childhood dream of being a morning show host is one not many of her loved ones knew she had.

“I cannot believe it,” the actress, 40, exclaimed while stepping in as Jenna Bush Hager’s cohost on the Tuesday, January 21, episode of Today With Jenna & Friends. “And more importantly, everyone in my life can’t quite believe it either. … The people that knew me very well were like, ‘You are living your dream. I am so happy for you.’ The people that did not know me as well were like, ‘What’s going on? Are you OK?’”

Johansson noted that as a kid, she would look at herself “in the mirror with a shampoo bottle, and I’m like, ‘Good morning, everyone, and I hope you had a wonderful weekend. What’s happening in your neck of the woods?’ All of that stuff.”

While Johansson wished to be a Today host, Bush Hager, 43, wished for the opposite. “Your life was my dream. I wanted to be a Broadway star, but I was not talented,” she told Johansson, who previously appeared on Broadway in the plays A View From the Bridge and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. “I wasn’t talented. I can’t sing, for one, but my mom would drive me to try out for Les Misérables even though I was, like, kind of a chunky Texas [kid.] … Not my vibes.”

Johansson is the fifth celebrity to join Bush Hager on Jenna & Friends following Hoda Kotb’s exit from Today earlier this month. Taraji P. Henson, Eva Longoria, Keke Palmer and Michelle Buteau took on cohosting duties last week, while Johansson will sit alongside Bush Hager through Friday, January 24.

In celebration of Johansson’s first day in the role, she and Bush Hager got to know each other through a game of “Best Friends Five.” When asked whether they are an early bird or a night owl, Johansson revealed that her late-night tendencies made it hard for her to wake up that morning.

“My phone was on silent, which was really cool. I barely slept a wink last night because I was going, ‘Oh, my gosh. My alarm’s not gonna go off,’” she explained. “And then, at some point, I thought, ‘I must rest,’ and so I kind of rested. And then, I woke up to pee, and I was [like], ‘Why is it daylight outside?’ And that was how I woke up this morning, so I rushed here. But I’m a night owl and an early bird because I have two kids and that’s how it goes.”

While answering whether they prefer to receive flirty text or love notes, Johansson got jealous when Bush Hager said her husband, Henry Hager, “sometimes” writes her romantic letters. “I feel gypped,” she quipped, poking fun at her husband, Colin Jost.

While Bush Hager said the two of them could talk to Jost, 42, about it, Johansson added: “Not even gonna tell you which kind of emojis I’m getting.” (The couple, who wed in 2020, share daughter Rose, 10, and son Cosmo, 3.)

Johansson previously got to fulfill her Today hosting dream by joining Al Roker for his weather report following a November 2024 interview on the show. “I’ve been directed by Scarlett Johansson,” Roker, 70, stated at the time. After sharing a hug with the weatherman, Johansson asked, “Did I get the job?”