Everything you need to know about Dakota Johnson’s famous family
Thanks to her famous parents, Dakota Johnson comes from one big blended family.Aside from her immediate siblings, the actress also has half-siblings from her famous parents Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson’s separate marriages.In a recent interview with Bustle, the Fifty Shades of Grey star has given a rare insight into her blended family dynamic, claiming ‘chosen’ family is “equally as important.””No matter how f—ed up it is, or who’s in rehab, or who’s not speaking to whom, or who’s divorcing whom, we’re family. And we are always going to be a family,” she said.Johnson’s comments about her big, blended family unit comes after there were some familiar voices among the chorus of cheers at her Saturday Night Live show in January.
The actress returned for the second time to host the US sketch show, delivering a monologue that poked fun at herself – both as an adult and a child.”I have a new movie coming out, it’s called Madame Web. It’s in the Marvel Universe and also stars Sydney Sweeney so it’s kind of like if AI generated your boyfriend’s perfect movie,” the actress joked.”I’ve been doing a lot of press of it, and I’m just not good at talking to journalists. I think the big problem is that I say stuff and then they write it down and it’s really unfair because most of the time I’m joking.”She quipped that not taking interviews seriously was something that started for her at an early age. She then showed a video of herself as a seven-year-old on the red carpet with her father, US actor Don Johnson, in the 1990s.In the clip, the younger Johnson can be seen rolling her eyes as her father speaks.
When the camera cut back to the 34-year-old actress, she hilariously mimicked the eye-roll while laughing. Among those in the audience joining in the chuckle was likely other members of Johnson’s famous family.Dakota Johnson is the daughter of film and TV stars Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson.Griffith, who has retired from acting, was a model and It girl in the 80s and 90s. She was nominated for an Oscar for her role in the 1998 film Working Girl.Don is best known for his role as Sonny Crockett in the 80s Miami Vice series.Griffith and Don first met in 1972 on the set of the film The Harrad Experiment. She was 14 at the time and he was 22.”We were in the stairwell of this Anheuser-Busch Estate waiting for a setup,” Griffiths recounted to The Hollywood Reporter.”We started chitchatting. I thought he was the most beautiful person I’d ever seen.”
Griffith’s mother, Hollywood icon Tippi Hedren, was also starring in the film and expressed “sheer panic” when her daughter fell for an older man.”How do you handle that? There was a very strong attachment between the two of them,” she said.Griffith and Don married in 1976 when the Body Double star was 18. The couple separated after six months.They went their separate ways before reconnecting and then remarrying in 1989. That same year they welcomed daughter Dakota.The couple would split five years later.Dakota is the granddaughter of Hollywood icon Tippi Hedren.The retired model and film star made her film debut in the now cult classic The Birds by acclaimed director and screenwriter Alfred Hitchcock.Hedren, real name Nathalie Kay, has appeared in more than 80 film and TV projects across her career.
Outside of film, Hedren is known for her animal rights activism through her Roar Foundation and the animal sanctuary, Shambala Preserve.She famously shared her home in the 1970s with her family and a 180kg lion named Neil.Dakota has six siblings from her parents respective marriages.Jesse, her eldest brother, was born in 1982 to Don and actor Patti D’Arbanville.Alexander was born in 1985 and is Dakota’s brother from her mother’s eight year relationship to actor Steven Bauer.Dakota has a younger sister Stella from her mother’s 19-year marriage to Spanish actor Antonio Banderas. Stella was born in 1996.
She also has another sister, Atherton ‘Grace’ and two brothers, Jasper and Deacon from her father’s relationship with wife Kelley Phleger.In a March 2023 interview with Bustle, Dakota gave some rare insight into her blended family unit, opening up about how ‘equally’ important chosen family is.
“I grew up in a family that was so big, and I just believe in the saying ‘Blood is thicker than water,” she said.”I have four brothers and two sisters, and my two sisters are not blood-related to each other, but they are sisters and they call each other sisters and they are always together.””And my two older brothers are not blood-related to each other. And they are brothers.”No matter how f—-d up it is, or who’s in rehab, or who’s not speaking to whom, or who’s divorcing whom, we’re family. And we are always going to be a family. It’s really real,” she told the outlet.