Scarlett Johansson smashes gender stereotypes in first appearance since split
NEW YORK — If wearing a suit was all Scarlett Johansson needed to challenge gender norms at Wednesday's AmFAR New York Gala, she would've had it covered.
Johansson, who was honored at the gala for her contributions to the struggle against HIV and AIDS, walked the gray carpet in a custom-made Versace tux with a white collar, a nod to the night's other honoree Donatella Versace. The star, stepping out at her first major event since the announcement of her split with husband Romain Dauriac, brought a special date, her mom, Melanie Sloan.
When Johansson took the stage after a loving introduction from Avengers co-star Mark Ruffalo, she dedicated her speech to a close friend who died from AIDS, whose deep connection with her mother taught her that male-female friendships are far too narrowly categorized.
His name was Tony, Johansson explained in a free-wheeling story about the maître d' at her mom's favorite restaurant. Coming from a "lower-middle income family, a night out on the town was a rare luxury for the parents of four," she explained. Soon, Tony became part of their family, growing close to her mother as her best friend and confidante. And as a gay man in NYC in the mid-80s, at the height of the AIDS epidemic, Tony's partner passed away from the disease, which claimed his own life shortly after.
"My mother struggled to come up with the right word to describe their relationship, because those kinds of relationships never molded to some kind of prefabricated description," she said. "They're the kind of magic felt between two people who find each other and don't expect or need anything from each other. And even though they may be worlds apart in some ways, in all the ways that matter, they just fit."
And while Johansson succeeded in telling a story about the devastation of AIDS on ordinary people, her amFAR speech was also an important parable about the irrelevance of gender and sexuality when it comes to human connection. And she told it while wearing a tuxedo better than anyone else in the room, no less.
