Dakota Johnson Opens Up About the Challenges of Growing Up in the Public Eye as the Daughter of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson

Growing up in the spotlight with renowned parents, Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, as well as her stepfather Antonio Banderas, Dakota Johnson experienced the unique world of Hollywood from an early age. This upbringing left a lasting impression on her, with both positive and challenging aspects.

“I never fully grasped the concept of Hollywood, but I was raised on film sets and constantly surrounded by filmmakers,” Johnson shared with Vogue Germany in their November issue. “I was even born in Texas because my father was shooting a movie there.”

The “Fifty Shades of Grey” star revealed that she was always aware her family’s career was unlike that of her peers, whose parents typically worked in traditional office jobs.

“It was challenging to form and maintain friendships because of the constant travel during my childhood,” she explained. “However, I always accepted it as our way of life. It’s in our DNA.”

Influenced by her family’s legacy, Johnson knew from a young age that she wanted to pursue acting and be a part of the industry that had surrounded her throughout her upbringing.

“As a child, I was obsessed with movies,” she told Vogue. “I was the kid who watched the same thing over and over again for a year. I think that shapes your imagination and what you think is possible for yourself, especially when you watch movies with other children, like ‘Mary Poppins’ or ‘Home Alone.’”

Johnson’s parents, however, didn’t allow her to act as a child until she graduated from high school, with the exception of a small role with her mother in the 1999 film “Crazy in Alabama.”

Despite all the positive exposure to a creative industry, having famous parents could be unsettling as a child. 

“When I was little, there were times when it was really quite scary, and people would aggressively and physically try to get to my mom when we were just going to the supermarket or something,” she said, adding, “If you accept that as normal as a little kid, it can lead to a lot of complexes.”

She continued, “And then, of course, the fact that you’re in the public eye and the world knows about your private life in a way that’s very invasive, rude, and painful. So, yes, there are downsides, but there are also incredible upsides—like with everything, I think.”

Griffith, who is best known for 1988’s “Working Girl,” married Don Johnson, of “Miami Vice” fame in 1976, which lasted six months. They married a second time in 1989, shortly before Dakota was born, and divorced in 1996. 

Griffith married Banderas in 1996, and they divorced in 2015. 

Dakota Johnson has never been married. She was in a long-term relationship with “Coldplay” frontman Chris Martin until this year.