Scarlett Johansson: 'I Did Not Have Email Relations With Barack Obama'

Screen siren Scarlett Johansson says she was embarrassed by the media coverage suggesting she had an "e-mail relationship" with presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

"I never said we were pen pals," Scarlett, 23, said in an interview from Los Angeles. "I was merely trying to express my delight at Obama's commitment to his campaign in every aspect and his interest and his support (in) his surrogates and his staff and his fellows, and how wonderful and refreshing that is.

"And it was manipulated into such an unfortunate media frenzy of kind of a nonstory."

Johansson told Politico.com in June that she and Obama had been trading emails. Obama later told reporters that Johansson does not have his personal email address.

"It seemed to me to be like a product of extreme sexism," Scarlett said, adding, "I kept thinking to myself, 'God, if this was just, like, Kal Penn or George Clooney or any of the other (Obama) surrogates or supporters ... there wouldn't be (any) question about it. Nobody would even talk about it."

As for her thoughts on whether she thinks the media was trying to start a romance rumor between her and Obama, she says, "Well, you know, I'm spoken for, so I think it has nothing to do with that at all and never did. Whatever. I'm a huge supporter."