Scarlett Johansson Invokes Princess Diana After Paparazzi Scare: They're 'Criminal Stalkers'
Scarlett Johansson is firing back at paparazzi after a dangerous incident occurred while leaving a taping of Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday night in Los Angeles.
In a statement obtained by PEOPLE, the Avengers: Endgame actress, 34, accused the paparazzi of “consistently going to increasingly dangerous lengths to stalk and harass the people they are photographing.”
Johansson said she was “followed by 5 cars full of men with blacked out windows who were running red lights.”
The actress was not driving the car, police told The Hollywood Reporter, but all three occupants felt unsafe. Johansson went to the Hollywood LAPD station after being pursued. No action was taken after the actress made it home safely, according to the outlet.
“Even after Princess Diana’s tragic death, the laws were never changed to protect targets from the lawless paparazzi,” she said in her statement. “Many paparazzi have criminal pasts and will perform criminal acts to get their shot.”
“The paparazzi put people’s lives at risk, so they can wait for days in quiet neighborhoods in blacked out cars, and try to follow me to the playground and photograph my child and other people’s children in a safe place that should be off limits, but isn’t,” Johansson continued.
RELATED: Jennifer Garner Recalls Life ‘Surrounded by Paparazzi’ During Her Marriage to Ben Affleck
The actress shares a 5-year-old daughter, Rose Dorothy, with ex-husband, French journalist Romain Dauriac.
She wrote, “All of this is perfectly legal. After yesterday’s incident, I felt it was my duty as a concerned citizen who was being pursued dangerously and stalked to go to the local precinct and seek guidance there. I would encourage others in a similar situation to go to the police.”
RELATED VIDEO: Scarlett Johansson Speaks At Los Angeles Women’s March
“Women across the U.S. are stalked, harassed and frightened and a universal law to address stalking must be at the forefront of law enforcement conversations,” she added. “Until paparazzi are considered by the law for the criminal stalkers they are, it’s just a waiting game before another person gets seriously injured or killed, like Princess Diana.”
Diana died in 1997 at the age of 36 in a car crash after she was pursued by paparazzi in a Paris tunnel.
