The actress Dakota Johnson, of Fifty Shades of Grey fame, is the daughter of actress Melanie Griffith and actor Don Johnson. Melanie and Don had this tempestuous relationship. The scorecard? Married twice. Divorced twice.
Little Dakota came along in 1989, the year after Melanie had her breakthrough role in Working Girl, alongside Indiana Jones, a.k.a. Harrison Ford.
The marriage between Don and Melanie came to an end in the mid-1990s. Don went on to date people like Barabara Streisand and Melanie married hunky Spanish actor Antonio Banderas.
Now, we'd like to tell you that everything between Melanie Griffith and Dakota Johnson has always been cool. But that's just not the case.
It's been up and down. These days? It's somewhere in the middle. Let's look at the relationship between Melanie Griffith and her daughter Dakota Johnson. And you won't believe what happened when the two rolled up to the Oscars together a few years back.
A Childhood On The Move
Dakota Johnson was born in Texas because her father Don Johnson was working on a film there. Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith dragged her along whenever and wherever they were filming. Her childhood was spent on the move.
According to Vogue, Don Johnson and Melanie Griffiths "were on location for long stretches of her childhood, and [Dakota] tagged along, nannies and tutors in tow." What about school? Think in terms of a few months here and there. And don't even mention Melanie and Don's struggle with drugs and alcohol.
"I was so consistently unmoored and discombobulated. I didn't have an anchor anywhere," Johnson told Vogue in 2017. Dakota was in therapy when she was 3-years-old!
According to Mare Claire, she suffered from depression as a teenager and checked into rehab.
So, point number one: Instead of providing Dakota with a stable, "moored" childhood Melanie Griffith dragged her all over the world. And Dakota resents it.
These days, Melanie is trying to play happy families with pictures of herself with Dakota, and Melanie's mom actress Tippi Hedren. Something tells up Dakota isn't completely buying it.
We're not saying it's all bad. But the relationship can, at best, be described as bumpy.
That Totally Awkward Oscars Interview
Now, take their appearance at the 2015 Oscars. Dakota had just made a big splash playing Anatasia Steele in Fifty Shades of Grey opposite Jamie Dornan's character Christian Grey. If you haven't seen it, take our word for it: Ana gets down and dirty. Dakota's dad Don has made a point of saying he won't see the film. Then in 2015 when Dakota and Melanie had a date night to attend the Oscars, the exchange on the red carpet was, to say the least tense.
Overly perky Good Morning America reporter Lara Spencer asked Melanie if she had seen the film. No came the curt reply. Perky Lara then asked if she would see the film. In a flat voice, Melanie says, "I don't think so."
Clearly annoyed, Dakota said, "Maybe one day . . . it would be fine. I think that one day you can see it."
But Griffith wasn't having any of it. "I don't think I can," she hissed. "I think it would be strange."
Undeterred, Lara asked Griffiths if she was proud of her Fifty Shades of Grey actress daughter. Without any emotion whatsoever, Melanie droned, "I'm so proud. I don't know I've said it so many times it seems like it's not enough."