Scarlett Johansson Leaked Nudes

2011eventclassic

Published September 26, 2026

Scarlett Johansson Leaked Nudes refers to the September 2011 incident in which private photographs of the actress spread across the internet after a Florida hacker broke into her phone accounts. The leak drew FBI involvement, dominated Reddit's front page, and sparked a Tumblr copycat trend called Scarlettjohanssoning where fans photographed themselves mimicking the pose.

scandal memes photo fad memes hacking memes tumblr memes unwilling celebrity memes

Overview

The two most-circulated photographs were a mirror selfie showing Johansson's exposed backside and a topless shot she later confirmed was taken for her then-husband Ryan Reynolds10. The mirror photo drove the bulk of the sharing because the pose lent itself easily to parody, and it turned into the reference image for the copycat trend that followed.

Within days, a Tumblr called Tush collected fan submissions of people mimicking the mirror shot, and a hashtag, #Scarlettjohanssoning, gave the parody trend a name13. Entertainment blog Gather covered the fad on September 15th, 2011, framing it as a 'Naked Tush Meme'14. The tone across most of the fan output was less about the actress herself than about Reddit's collective crush on her, which fed a wave of advice animal image macros joking about that infatuation7.

The broader story picked up more weight than the images themselves once the FBI investigation went public. Operation Hackerazzi tied more than 50 victims to a single Florida suspect, turning the Johansson leak into an early case study on cloud-connected phone security9. Media coverage split between tabloid outlets running the images and outlets like The Washington Post and ABC News framing the story around the criminal investigation4 3.

Origin & Background

Platform

WorldStarHipHop / Reddit (viral spread)

Date

2011

Reports of a hacker ring holding nude photos of dozens of celebrities first surfaced on March 20th, 2011, when celebrity gossip blog StupidRumors ran a story naming 50 targets including Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Christina Aguilera, Vanessa Hudgens, Miley Cyrus, and Johansson15. The FBI had already opened an investigation by that point15.

The Johansson photos themselves surfaced roughly six months later. On September 13th, 2011, aggregator site WorldStarHipHop was the first to post them16. Within hours, Redditor MetalKeirSolid submitted the mirror photo to the general r/reddit.com subreddit under the title 'Scarlett Johansson Leaked Ass Picture,' where it hit the front page and pulled in more than 23,800 upvotes that day2. Perez Hilton and BuzzFeed republished the pictures the same afternoon, though Perez Hilton later took them down at Johansson's request6 5.

How It Spread

The Reddit thread by MetalKeirSolid became the central hub for early discussion, with users comparing EXIF data from the real-estate listing for Johansson's home to metadata on the leaked images to confirm authenticity7. A follow-up thread by Redditor aboutandy on r/AskReddit questioned whether the community should be celebrating the invasion at all, and it also reached the front page19. BuzzFeed folded the pictures into a broader 'most important leaked celebrity nudes' roundup the same week5.

TMZ and The Washington Post reported on September 14th that Johansson had contacted the FBI directly to help track down whoever accessed her phone1 4. ABC News reported the next day that Mila Kunis had also been hit, and that investigators believed a 'cell phone hacker ring' was behind both leaks, including text messages between Kunis and Justin Timberlake3. The LA Times later noted that Johansson's involvement with the FBI likely sped up the pace of the wider investigation, which had been quietly running since 201012.

On October 12th, 2011, TMZ broke that the FBI had arrested Christopher Chaney, a 35-year-old Florida man, in a case dubbed Operation Hackerazzi9. Gawker reported the same day that Chaney used the online handle 'Gook' and was an active 4chan user8. The grand jury indictment listed more than 50 victims and charged Chaney with unauthorized computer access, wiretapping, and aggravated identity theft. He pled guilty to nine counts and was sentenced to 71 months in federal prison in 2012, plus $66,179.46 in restitution to Johansson and $150,000 to other victims11.

How to Use This Meme

The Scarlettjohanssoning fad had a simple template: stand in front of a mirror, face the reflection with your back to the camera, and shoot a self-portrait with a phone held at hip height. Participants typically kept clothes on, using either swimwear or fully dressed poses to keep the joke about the pose itself rather than the nudity. The Tush Tumblr collected the strongest submissions and tagged them #Scarlettjohanssoning13. Advice animal image macros circulating on Reddit made a separate branch of the joke, using stock templates to comment on the wider fandom's reaction to the leak7.

Cultural Impact

The leak pushed celebrity phone security into mainstream news cycles years before the 2014 iCloud leaks. Sophos threat researcher Beth Jones told ABC News that stars worried about hackers should 'remember Polaroids,' framing the incident as an early warning about smartphone cameras and cloud backup3. Johansson herself told CNN that being in the public eye did not forfeit privacy, saying it 'feels unjust' and 'feels wrong' when private material is taken11.

In her December 2011 Vanity Fair cover story, Johansson addressed the leak directly, saying the photos were originally sent to Reynolds and adding, 'I know my best angles'10. The Washington Post's Reliable Source blog repeated the quote in a short item on November 1st, 201118. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa Feldman later told the court that Chaney kept hacking celebrities even after the FBI seized his computer, framing him as unrepentant11.

Fun Facts

- Redditors confirmed the photos were real by matching camera EXIF data against images from a real-estate listing for Johansson's home, and the metadata pointed to a BlackBerry 90007.

- Christopher Chaney used the online handle 'Gook' and was an active 4chan user, according to a blogger who spoke with Gawker at the time8.

- Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa Feldman told the court that Chaney kept hacking celebrities even after federal agents raided his home and seized his computer11.

- The restitution owed to Johansson was set at an oddly precise $66,179.46, on top of $150,000 owed to other victims11.

- Johansson told Vanity Fair the photos were meant for her then-husband Ryan Reynolds and that she saw 'nothing wrong' with taking them, quipping 'I know my best angles'10.

Derivatives & Variations

Scarlettjohanssoning / Naked Tush: A Tumblr photo trend and hashtag where fans imitated the mirror-selfie pose under the tag #Scarlettjohanssoning, cataloged on the Tush Tumblr[13].

Advice animal macros: A wave of Reddit image macros joking about the fandom's collective infatuation with the actress rather than the photos themselves[7].

'Naked Tush Meme' coverage: Entertainment site Gather packaged the pose-mimicking fad as its own trend piece on September 15th, 2011[14].

Frequently Asked Questions

References (19)