Melanie Griffith’s life has been a real roller coaster.
The iconic actress, daughter of actress Tippi Hedren,
made her big screen debut at the age of 12 and has since starred
in several major productions.
While Melanie Griffith’s career progressed, her personal life
was also in the center of attention.
She was married three times — most notably to Antonio Banderas -,
was in rehabilitation centers and raised three children.
Melanie Griffith’s children from her first two marriages — Alexander Bauer and Dakota Johnson
— had a rather difficult childhood, especially since their mother was in a terrible situation at that time…
There really was something special about Melanie Griffith in the 80s.
She was erotic and sexual in a way that European actresses sometimes are,
but American actresses almost never are.
And she could play, although I don’t think Melanie ever exploited her full potential.
I loved her in the movie Guns of Women and Paradise!
She was born on August 9, 1957 in New York to Peter Griffith and superstar actress
Tippi Hedren, best known for her role in Hitchcock’s classic The Birds. Looking back,
Griffith’s life has been pretty amazing, but at the same time tragic.
The famous actress, known for her strong but sexy characters, was involved in a car accident,
had alcohol problems and went through three divorces. From the very beginning,
she was exposed to the pressures of a life in show business.
Her mother, Tippi, was, as mentioned, a superstar, and her childhood was extravagant
in a very peculiar way, even by Hollywood standards.
When Griffith was seven years old, his mother married the agent and producer Noah Marshall.
After a trip to Africa, the couple decides to make a film about lions.
An animal trainer had a unique idea: to get to know the big cats better, they could take one of
them to their home. So Melanie Griffith grew up with a pet lion who lived with them in their Los Angeles, California
home in the 1970s. «I grew up with lions, tigers and two elephants,» Griffith said. The pet lion Neil lived with the family.
Life Magazine documented this extraordinary event with photos of Hedren resting on Neil’s back.
The lion even slept under blankets in Melanie Griffith’s bed. «It was incredibly stupid,»
Griffith explained later. Although she did not have any incidents with Neil, years later,
during another meeting, things did not end so well.
Melanie Griffith starred in her first commercial before the age of one. She continued
to work in commercials and as a model for several years, and at the age of 12 she made her debut in «Extra!»,
even though it was uncredited.
At the age of 14, she appeared in «The Experiment» and met her first love on the set.
Griffith met actor Don Johnson on the set and the two fell head over heels in love.
However, their age difference was somewhat controversial at the time.
Don Johnson was 22 at the time – eight years older than Melanie
– but their love for each other didn’t stop them.
«I thought he was the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen,» Griffith said.
Their mother was afraid for them because of their age, but she finally gave in.
At the age of 15, Melanie Griffith moved in with Don Johnson and, on his 18th birthday, the two got engaged.
«They were two beautiful and wonderful people, and here was my daughter
showing signs that I had never seen in her home before, with an older man,
and it was just pure panic,» recalls her mother, Tippi Hedren.
Griffith and Johnson got married in Las Vegas in 1976. And after only six months of marriage,
the two men separated. However, they later rekindled their romance and exchanged
their wedding vows for the second time in 1989.
Melanie Griffith began her promising acting career in the 1970s, appearing in films such
as Night Moves and Joyride. In 1981, Melanie Griffith starred in the movie Roar.
Although her mother and stepfather raised lions to make a movie, things went wrong on the set of Roar.
It was very dangerous to be in front of the camera and Melanie was injured.
She was injured near the eye and she feared losing her sight.
She needed plastic surgery while her mother, Tippi Hedren, developed gangrene
and needed skin grafts, as described in an article in the New Yorker.
As the Guardian reports, Melanie Griffith said that the lioness «did not intend to harm me.
It was only after seven years of growing up with the lions that I forgot that we had to be careful.
You can never be sure that you are safe, and a single blow can make your head explode like a ping-pong ball.
Melanie Griffith survived this frightening incident. She continued to act in films,
but without wild animals.
She appeared in «Body Double», «Something Wild» and «The Weapons of Women»,
including the latter in which she received an Oscar nomination in 1989. In the 1980s,
Melanie Griffith also finds love again for the second time.
She married actor Steven Bauer in 1981 and four years later they welcomed a son,
Alexander Bauer. Their relationship lasted until 1989, when the couple broke up
— Griffith found love again with Don Johnson.
They divorced again in 1996 after having their daughter, now an actress,
Dakota Johnson, in 1989.
«You have to understand that we have a bond and I love him,» Melanie Griffith said, adding:
«I will always love [Don Johnson]. But just because you love someone, doesn’t mean you can live with them.
Dakota Johnson became a leading actress, having starred in «Fifty Shades of Gray» and «The Social Network».
But because her parents divorced when she was only seven years old, she had an eventful childhood.
She moved often, attended several different schools and was even homeschooled for a while.
When she was young, she often stayed with her parents on film sets.
It also led her to become an actress, which she did.
However, Dakota Johnson’s childhood was also full of problems due to her family situation.
As a result, she began to undergo therapy at the age of three.
«The whole thing,» Dakota Johnson told Vogue. «All possible help.»
«I was constantly disoriented and confused, I had nowhere to anchor myself, I never learned to be a child.
I thought to myself: «Why do I have to go to school on time? What’s the point of living in
Budapest for six months while your father-in-law films Evita and you do your studies in your hotel room?
I was a disaster and for so long I thought something was wrong with my brain.
Now I realize that it works in a different way.
Dakota Johnson’s childhood could have put her on the wrong foot. However,
a new person quickly entered her life and changed everything.
As she mentioned, she needed an anchor point. And that’s exactly what she got from her stepfather, Antonio Banderas.
In 1996, the same year that Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson separated,
Banderas also divorced Ana Leza, with whom he had been married for nine years.
He had long admired Melanie Griffith, having seen her in Night Has Many Eyes and on the red carpet at the Oscars.
«The first time I went to the Oscars after receiving a nomination for Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown, we arrived on the red carpet and I saw this blonde woman and I knew her because «I had seen her movies, but I didn’t remember [her name],» Banderas told Vulture.
«So I told [director Pedro Almodóvar], ‘Who is she? Who is she? What’s his name?’ Pedro said, «It’s Melanie Griffith!»I said, «That’s it. Oh my God.’Six years later, I got married to her.
The two met during the filming of the comedy «Two Much» in 1995 and they had one thing in common.
Both were unhappy in their marriage – and Banderas and Griffith recognized each other’s situation. Antonio Banderas immediately felt the need
Griffiths. Although, according to rumors, there was a moment when he could have made a serious mistake.
«We went out to eat, I sat there and asked her about her baby’s parents, but of course I was talking about her baby’s parents. That was all. It was just stupid,» he said, adding :
«But we started working together and it was difficult to work because she was beautiful and I was a little excited, but she also had this problem in her marriage. So we were very honest from the beginning about our own problems, and that’s what made our relationship strong. Our marriage followed suit.
A year after the filming of «Two Much», Griffith and Banderas got married. In 1996 they had their daughter Stella Banderas.
Antonio and Melanie remained married for 19 years before divorcing in 2015. Melanie Griffith later revealed that there were no hard feelings and that they remained friends, and Banderas was also a great father figure in the eyes of his children.
