Whilst Dakota Johnson has created her own name in Hollywood as an actress, being the daughter of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson secured her spot in the spotlight.
With a childhood spent on red carpets and film sets, fame was always a part of her everyday life, but her father, Don, shared on Late Night With Seth Meyers in 2021 that she didn’t really need their help.
“No, she doesn’t really call me for advice,” he said. “She calls me to say, ‘Gosh, I would see you, but I’ve got three pictures that I’m shooting at the same time.'”
Now, with critically acclaimed performances, a production company of her own, and a reputation for doing things her way, Dakota has fully stepped out from the shadows of her famous family.
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WHO ARE DAKOTA JOHNSON’S PARENTS?
Don Johnson
Dakota’s father, Don, rose to fame in the ’80s after appearing in the TV series Miami Vice starring as James ‘Sonny Crockett’, which earned him a Golden Globe.
And of course, a question on everyone’s lips was, did her parents watch Fifty Shades of Grey, which made the actress famous as a 23-year-old in 2015.
“I would never see that,” Don told People magazine. “I wouldn’t see that even if she wasn’t in it. It’s not my kind of thing. As a father, there are certain images that you don’t need in your head.”
The actor has been married five times, with his first two wives remaining out of the public eye.
He married Melanie Griffith in 1976 and the pair divorced a few months later.
In 1981, he married actress Patti D’Arbanville, welcoming a son, Jesse, and then later divorcing in 1985.
Don proceeded to remarry Melanie in 1989, and the pair welcomed Dakota before divorcing in 1996.
In 1999, Don married Kelley Phleger, with whom he has had three children, Grace, Jasper and Deacon.
Melanie Griffith
Like Don, Melanie rose to fame in the ’80s with her performances in Body Double and Working Girl which she won a Golden Globe, as well as receiving an Academy Award nomination.
Melanie had shared her concern for Dakota working in Hollywood to Vanity Fair and that she was “worried” for her daughter, but “never worried about whether or not she had the talent and the magic.”
“I knew how tough it was to navigate all of the aspects of filmmaking, and I hope she learned some good tips from me! I think she did,” Melanie had said. “But it’s Dakota’s sense of self and her awareness of life, love and hard work that has gotten her through scary times.”
In 2015, Dakota hosted Saturday Night Live and her parents made cameos during her monologue.
“It’s actually really incredible that I’m standing on this stage right now, because in December of 1988, my mother stood in this exact spot and hosted SNL,” she said. “Right after the show, my father got down on one knee and he proposed to her for the second time. And exactly nine months later, I was born … I must have been conceived that night after the show—or maybe even during the show.”
The camera then showed her parents, who were hiding their faces, and Dakota asked if they were embarrassed about the proposal story, to which Don replied, “No, we were just afraid you were going to be naked.”
The actress is a mother of four: she shares son Alexander with ex-husband Steven Bauer, daughter Dakota Johnson and stepson Jesse Johnson with former partner Don Johnson, and daughter Stella Banderas with ex-husband Antonio Banderas.
Melanie married Antonio in 1996 after the pair co-starred in the film Too Much. That same year, they welcomed their daughter Stella. The couple were married for nearly two decades before divorcing in 2014.
