AS Scarlett Johansson was ushered up the red carpet looking breathtaking in a skin tight nude gown, crowds gasped and flashbulbs exploded in a frenzy as it became clear we were watching a star being born.
In a sea of skinny starlets, she was refreshingly curvy, and her stunning looks were already drawing gushing comparisons with 1950's sex symbol Marilyn Monroe – but Scarlett was just 19 years old and nervous.
That was 20 years ago.
Now the phenomenal success of Scarlett's latest action movie Jurassic World: Rebirth has sent the actress' earning power stratospheric – with her worldwide box office takings soaring to a staggering £11billion ($14.8bn).
She surpassed Marvel Cinematic Universe stars Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Downey Jr. to become the biggest name in movies – largely thanks to having played Black Widow for 10 years in mega money blockbusters like Avengers: Endgame, Infinity War, The Avengers and Age of Ultron.
It's an astonishing feat, but when I first met the actress as she was starting out in Hollywood she was, in my opinion, not prepared for the intense scrutiny that lay ahead.
We had a painfully awkward encounter at the Golden Globe Awards in January 2004, where she was nominated for Lost In Translation, the 2003 role that first shot her to worldwide fame.
I was reporting on the awards show for an American entertainment magazine, and about halfway through the ceremony I nipped away from the press area in the balcony to use the toilet.
As I was washing my hands, Scarlett emerged from a cubicle behind me and our eyes met in the mirror.
I smiled, but she did not smile back.
I blurted out: "I love your dress!"
In hindsight it was a pretty obvious thing to say, but I genuinely meant it. She looked fantastic.
I looked away, and turned off the tap.
But instead of giving a polite nod or simply saying, "Thanks," she glared back, slowly looked my plain black frock up and down, and asked with a sarcastic sneer: "Is this the part where I'm supposed to say I like yours?"
I was too stunned to reply, and spent the rest of the evening wondering why on earth she would have even bothered to be so rude to a total stranger.
Uncomfortable incidents
However, as the years have gone by there have been a steady stream of uncomfortable incidents involving the screen siren.
She is now a 40-year-old mother-of-two and has the world at her feet, but continues to rub people up the wrong way.
Her love life has been colourful, to say the least.
She briefly dated Hollywood producer Jack Antonoff when they were at high school together, and in 2006 had a year-long fling with Pearl Harbour hunk Josh Hartnett, 46.
Next she fell for heartthrob Ryan Reynolds, 48, who would become the first of her three husbands.
They had only been dating for a year when it emerged they had tied the knot on Vancouver Island in September 2008 – but their marriage was over three years later, allegedly due to her workload.
I was too stunned to reply, and spent the rest of the evening wondering why on earth she would have even bothered to be so rude to a total stranger
Nadia Cohen
Scarlett swiftly moved on to movie executive Nate Naylor in 2011.
By 2012 however, she had fallen for French journalist Romain Dauriac during a trip to Paris, and they married in a secret ceremony at a ranch in Montana in 2014.
They had a daughter – Rose, now 10 – but that marriage was done and dusted after barely two years.
There was a bitter custody battle over where Rose would live, and in a terse statement issued at the time Scarlett pleaded for privacy.
She said: "Out of respect for my desires as a parent and out of respect for all working moms, it is with kindness that I ask other parties involved and the media to do the same."
Yet she bounced back fast and was dating Saturday Night Live comedian Colin Jost by 2017.
The pair tied the knot in New York in October 2020 and now have a three-year-old son called Cosmo.
Sexy roles
But it's not just Scarlett's tumultuous private life that has raised eyebrows.
She has also complained about being typecast as a sex symbol.
"I think women that are curvy can be pigeonholed in that bombshell thing," she moaned. "It's not like I actively look for sexy roles.
"It's not a requirement that my character be pretty and delicate. I never think about my character being sexy, unless that's written in."
Earlier this year, in March, she grumbled about eager fans asking for photos with her.
In an interview with InStyle magazine she revealed her strict policy for getting rid of unwanted admirers.
"It really offends a lot of people," she admitted. "It doesn't mean I'm not appreciative, of course, that people are fans, or happy to see me.
"But I always say to people, 'I'm not working.' And that means I don't want to be identified as being in this time and place with you. I'm doing my own thing.
"I like to be in my own thoughts that have nothing to do with what other people think of me. I don't like being self-conscious."
Just last week Scarlett was caught shrieking at photographers while filming her new drama Paper Tiger.
"Move out the f*****g way," she yelled, ushering a snapper away with her hand. "I'm working."
Furious backlash
Scarlett has also faced furious backlash for her outspoken opinions – including her consistent defence of controversial director Woody Allen over allegations of sexual abuse made by his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow.
Scarlett starred in three of his most successful films – Match Point, Scoop, and Vicky Cristina Barcelona – and said in 2019: "I love Woody and I believe him and I would work with him anytime.
"I see Woody whenever I can, and I have had a lot of conversations with him about it. He maintains his innocence, and I believe him."
Meanwhile other stars including Colin Firth, Mira Sorvino and Greta Gerwig said they regretted working with him, while Timothee Chalamet said he would donate his wages to charity.
Scarlett was also accused of "whitewashing" Japanese manga art when she was cast as a cyborg in Ghost In The Shell in 2015.
In the original animated films and video games her character was Asian, and more than 15,000 people signed a petition urging producers to replace her with an Asian actress.
Scarlett defended herself, arguing: "Acting goes through trends.
"You know, as an actor I should be allowed to play any person, or any tree, or any animal because that is my job and the requirements of my job.
"There are a lot of social lines being drawn now, and a lot of political correctness is being reflected in art."
She came under fire again in 2018 for arguing that a straight woman should be able to play trans characters – but amid a torrent of harsh criticism from the trans community she dropped out of her role in Rub and Tug.
She had been set to play crime kingpin Dante 'Tex' Gill, who was born Lois Jean Gill but identified as a man, and used his massage parlours as a front for prostitution dens.
A year later Scarlett admitted she had been insensitive.
In hindsight, I mishandled that situation. I was not sensitive
Scarlett Johansson
"In hindsight, I mishandled that situation," she said. "I was not sensitive, my initial reaction to it.
"I wasn't totally aware of how the trans community felt about those actors playing and how they felt in general about cis actors playing transgender people.
"I wasn't aware of that conversation, I was uneducated. So I learned a lot through that process. I misjudged that, It was a hard time.
"It was like a whirlwind. I felt terribly about it. To feel like you're kind of tone-deaf to something is not a good feeling."
Perhaps it's not as much fun as it sounds being universally admired as a sex bomb and hounded by adoring autograph hunters – but that evening in the ladies loo of the Beverly Hilton Hotel, I was simply being polite.
And she should have done the same.
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