Calling out 'the lawless paparazzi,' the 'Avengers: Endgame' star says she sought protection at the local precinct after she was followed by five cars full of men who were running red lights.

• Apr 10, 2019

AceShowbiz - As a Hollywood actress, Scarlett Johansson must have been used to getting hounded by paparazzi. But some photographers' relentless pursuit for the actress got alarmingly dangerous and forced her to seek help from police on Monday night, April 8.

The actress revealed that after a taping of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!", she headed home in a car with two other people and was not driving. She was followed by five cars full of men with blacked out windows. She believed that the paparazzi were following her "in a dangerous fashion."

Feeling the need to share her concern about paparazzi's illegal ways to stalk celebrities, the "Avengers: Endgame" star says in a statement after the scary chase, "The paparazzi consistently go to increasingly dangerous lengths to stalk and harass the people they are photographing. Even after Princess Diana's tragic death, the laws were never changed to protect targets from the lawless paparazzi. Many paparazzi have criminal pasts and will perform criminal acts to get their shot."

According to the Black Widow depicter, the men in the cars "were running red lights and putting other drivers and pedestrians at risk so they could follow me to find out where I was staying and subsequently stalk me and my young daughter for the duration of my stay."

"The paparazzi put people's lives at risk, so they can wait for days in quiet neighborhoods in blacked out cars," she adds of her experience, "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. All of this is perfectly legal."

She goes on sharing, "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."

Calling for a change, she continues, "Women across the US are stalked, harassed and frightened and a universal law to address stalking must be at the forefront of law enforcement conversations. 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."

The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed that Scarlett visited the Hollywood police station when she was followed by paparazzi on Monday night. She stopped for awhile, but no charges were filed. She got home safely.

Scarlett has been busy promoting "Avengers: Endgame". On Monday night, she appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" with her co-stars Chris Hemsworth, Paul Rudd and Robert Downey Jr.. The stars did a good job in keeping their lips sealed about the upcoming movie. The 34-year-old actress also remained mum when asked about her upcoming Black Widow solo movie.