Making a change. Dakota Johnson said that parents Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith‘s 1996 divorce likely influenced her friendship with Chris Martin‘s ex Gwyneth Paltrow.
“Maybe I think about relationships like that differently because I grew up in my family,” the Cha Cha Real Smooth actress, 32, told Vanity Fair in a feature published on Tuesday, June 28.
Don, now 72, was married to Griffith, now 64, briefly in 1976 and again in 1989. The Miami Vice actor separated from the Working Girl star in 1994 before reconciling only to separate again in 1995. Their divorce was finalized in 1996, and Griffith went on to marry Antonio Banderas later that year (they divorced in 2017).
Though Dakota is the former couple’s only child together, she has half-siblings on both sides of her family. Griffith gave birth to son Alexander, 36, with ex-husband Steven Bauer. She also welcomed daughter Stella, 26, with Banderas. Don, meanwhile, shares son Jesse Johnson, 39, with ex Patti D’Arbanville. He welcomed kids Grace, 22, Jasper, 20, and Deacon, 16, with Kelley Phleger, who he has been married to since 1999.
“We were all cool [with each other]. Obviously, there were times where it was not cool, but I experienced that, so I don’t want that in my life,” the Fifty Shades of Grey actress told VF of how her childhood affected her current relationships.
She added, “My life is incredibly lucky and privileged, and the life I led growing up was remarkable — the places I went and how we lived and what we were able to experience. But we also struggled with internal family dynamics and situations and events that are so traumatic.”
That upbringing has made her conscious of not only relationships with ex spouses and children but also keeping her private life very low-key. She and the Coldplay singer, 45, first got together in 2017, less than two years after his divorce from Paltrow was finalized. Martin remains close with his ex-wife, with whom he shares daughter Apple, 18, and son Moses, 16. The TeaTime Productions founder said she wants to maintain positive relationships for the teenagers.
“I don’t want any kids to experience anything like that,” Dakota said referring to her own family dynamic. “It’s better to be kind, and it’s also really nice that everybody actually really loves each other and has each other’s backs.”
The Goop founder, 49, has previously spoken out about her friendship with the Lost Daughter star. “I love her,” Paltrow told Harper’s Bazaar in January 2020. “I can see how it would seem weird because it’s sort of unconventional. But I think, in this case, just having passed through it iteratively, I just adore her. I always start to think of the ampersand sign — what else can you bring in, instead of being resistant to or being made insecure by? There’s so much juice in leaning in to something like that.”
