Matt Damon has gone from being named People’s Sexiest Man alive to the Sexiest Family Man Alive – an honor that co-star Scarlett Johansson isn’t buying.

“That sounds like a lot of words that just don’t belong together!” Scarlett told me on my HDNet talk show “Naughty But Nice Rob.” “I think Matt just has this boyish charm about him and he’s warm and inviting, as you would expect him to be. You see that kind of radiating from him on-screen and it’s just the way that he is.”

However, Johansson isn’t alone in questioning whether the words “sexy” and “family man” should be in the same sentence. Damon himself seems a bit confused by the honor.

“That’s like the world’s tallest midget. I guess [it's flattering], man,” said a visibly uncomfortable Damon.

So should friend and former Sexiest Man Alive-turned-father-of-six Brad Pitt be jealous?

“I’m sure he spends a lot of time thinking about that sort of thing,” Damon said, laughing.

Peering into the enclosures of her four-legged co-stars on the set of We Bought a Zoo, Scarlett Johansson shared moments of empathy.

“It is a bit like being in a zoo,” she says, discussing the escalating level of curiosity into her private life, a fascination that began back in 2003 when she officially turned from child actress to adult movie star with roles in Girl with a Pearl Earring and Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation.

“There is certainly a freak show aspect of someone who is recognisable. People take for granted their anonymity until they don’t have it any more. But it comes with the territory, and over time you just learn to cope with it better.”

Johansson, 27, has endured a heightened interest in her personal life since her separation and subsequent divorce from husband Ryan Reynolds a year ago.

Her surprise affair with Sean Penn and leaked nude photos on the internet only served to fan the flames of her well-established femme fatale image.

Perhaps it’s because she’s been in the business since she was seven years old that Johansson is pretty laid-back about the goldfish bowl aspect of her lifestyle.

“I feel incredibly fortunate to do what I love to do,” she says. “Everything else is an added bonus or a pain. But I know so many actors who can’t get a job, so for me to complain about it would be a little silly. But it is annoying.

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