Scarlett Johansson urges actors to 'go straight to the police' when dealing with 'terrifying' paparazzi

Just a few days ago, Scarlett Johansson was taken to a Los Angeles police station after a handful of celebrity photographers overpowered her security and followed her after recording an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Now, the Avengers: Endgame actor has urged fellow stars do the same as intense paparazzi run-ins can be “really dangerous.”

Appearing on Lorraine to promote the aforementioned Marvel movie, the 34-year-old recalled a time “several years ago” where she got into a car accident trying to avoid paparazzi that were aggressively pursuing her.

Read more: Scarlett Johansson seeks police assistance after paparazzi incident leaving ‘Kimmel’

“I hit somebody who had a kid in their car,” she told stand-in host Christine Lampard. “So from that moment on, I realised that you can’t win that game [because] it’s really dangerous so I just go straight to the police.

I advise people to do that because it is a criminal pursuit and it’s terrifying. I think a lot of actors recently have spoken out about it, you know, about the dangers of being stalked and pursued and harassed. It’s scary. it should not be a normal thing for anybody.”

This isn’t the first time Johansson has spoken out about paparazzi and their questionable methods. Around the time of the Jimmy Kimmel Live! incident, she issued a statement that said: “Even after Princess Diana’s tragic death, the laws were never changed to protect targets from the lawless paparazzi.

“Women across the US are stalked, harassed and frightened and a universal law to address stalking must be at the forefront of law enforcement conversations.”

Read more: ‘Avengers: Endgame’ directors plead with fans not to spoil movie

Lampard was probably quite thankful that Johansson was willing to talk about such an important subject during the short interview this morning as she quickly pointed out that they were hardly allowed to discuss Avengers: Endgame at all.

“It’s hard when you’re doing interviews because in the past, [we] used to use the content of the film to deflect personal questions but now you’re like, ‘Ask me whatever you want because I can’t talk about the movie,’ Johansson laughed, after Lampard mentioned the restrictions.

“It’s a little tricky but we’ve mostly figured it out. We’re just biting our nails until this movie is released so that we don’t have to keep secrets anymore.”

Avengers: Endgame is released in UK cinemas on 25 April.