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Dakota Johnson is currently promoting Madame Web. There’s been at least one photocall and premiere, although I expect that we’ll get some bigger premieres in the coming days. Dakota recently hosted Saturday Night Live and one of her most successful bits was appearing in a Please Don’t Destroy video where she roasted the three comedians.
The “nepo truce” thing caught on because, oh right, Dakota is absolutely a nepo baby. She’s a second-generation nepo baby! Her grandmother is Tippi Hendron, her mom is Melanie Griffith and her dad is Don Johnson. Her stepfather, for years, was Antonio Banderas too. Dakota is super-close to her mom, dad, grandmother and even her former stepfather. Which sort of gives her some blind spots to her own nepotism. Dakota appeared on the Today Show this week and she was asked about the Please Don’t Destroy video and nepo babies in general. Dakota shared her own story… of being cut off financially when she decided to become an actress.
Dakota Johnson is not a fan of the “nepo baby” conversation. Johnson, 34, said that she finds conversations surrounding celebrities whose parents are also celebrities or otherwise influential in the entertainment industry “incredibly annoying and boring” during an appearance on the Today show Wednesday.
“Like, if you’re a journalist, write about something else,” she told host Hoda Kotb, who asked Johnson — whose parents are actors Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson — about poking fun at her own celebrity status.
“That’s just like, lame. So the opportunity to make fun of it, I jumped at,” she added.
Johnson and her father Don, 74, have been open about his decision to cut her off financially when she decided to pursue acting rather than attend college after she graduated high school. “He said, ‘If you go to college, you’ll still get an allowance,’ ” she recalled on the Today show Wednesday. “And I was like, ‘Well, I’m going to be an actress.’ So he was like, ‘Alright, well you’re on your own.’ ”
Johnson secured her first acting role as an adult in 2010’s The Social Network and has seen significant success since, most notably for her starring role in 2015’s Fifty Shades of Grey and its two sequels.
“I did some little modeling jobs that helped me pay my rent. And then I started auditioning and got some jobs,” she told Kotb of how she survived after her father took her off “the payroll,” as she says he refers to the family’s finances. “I definitely had moments where I couldn’t afford groceries and had to ask my mom to help me. She was the nice one.”
I’m sure in Dakota’s mind, she is mostly self-made, because she was “cut off” and she paid her own bills at an early age. But again, nepotism is about more than “my famous parents made me pay my rent when I was 20!” It’s about more than money. While Don and Melanie didn’t support her financially, they supported her in a million other ways, and as we’ve seen endlessly, Hollywood loves first-gen, second-gen and third-gen nepo babies. Dakota was able to walk into auditions as the daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith. That gave her an enormous leg up. It’s okay to acknowledge it and your own nepo privilege.
Dakota Johnson speaks to @hodakotb about ‘Madame Web,’ how she feels about the trajectory of her career, how her dad Don Johnson cut her off financially, her thoughts on the ‘nepo baby’ label and more.
And you’re always invited to join us all day, Dakota! pic.twitter.com/yd5grJOdDS
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) February 7, 2024
Photos courtesy of xRWx/Avalon Red, Avalon Red and Cover Images.
Dakota Johnson at Madame Web photocall, London at Claridges in London, UK, on 31st January 2024,Image: 842102509, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: James Shaw / Avalon
Dakota Johnson at Madame Web photocall, London at Claridges in London, UK, on 31st January 2024,Image: 842102531, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: James Shaw / Avalon
NEW YORK, NY- FEBRUARY 7: Dakota Johnson seen on NBC s Today Show in New York City on February 07, 2024. Copyright: xRWx,Image: 844582230, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/RW / Avalon
NEW YORK, NY- FEBRUARY 7: Dakota Johnson seen on NBC s Today Show in New York City on February 07, 2024. Copyright: xRWx,Image: 844582252, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/RW / Avalon
Dakota Johnson Exit Downtown Hotel in NYC
Featuring: Dakota Johnson
Where: New York, New York, United States
When: 07 Feb 2024
Credit: Janet Mayer/INSTARimages.com
