Antonio Banderas Just Called Ex-Wife Melanie Griffith His "Best Friend"

From Oprah Magazine

• In a new interview with People, Antonio Banderas called his ex-wife, Melanie Griffith, his best friend.

• The pair were married for nearly 20 years before splitting in December 2015.

• Banderas is currently promoting his Spanish-language film, Pain & Glory, which also stars actress Penelope Cruz.

Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux. Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin. And now Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas. All are proof that love isn’t lost after tabloid-splashed splits. Banderas is the latest screen star to gush over his ex to the press, and his words of affection for his “best friend” will make you wish you had even an ounce of his sophistication.

In an interview with People, the man formerly known as Puss in Boots was smitten over his ex-wife, Melanie Griffith, but in a purely platonic way. “Melanie is not my wife anymore, but I think she is my best friend,” Banderas, 59, said of Griffith, 62. “I love her and will love her until the day I die. She’s my family.”

Banderas and Griffith, who at one time had “Antonio” inked on her right bicep, spent nearly 20 years as a married couple, walking down the aisle in May of 1996. They share a daughter together, Stella Banderas, who is now 23, and Banderas helped raise Griffith’s daughter from her previous relationship with Don Johnson. Dakota Johnson, now 30, still refers to Banderas as “Paponio” (a portmanteau of the words papa and Antonio). And though they divorced in December of 2015, their friendship hasn’t waned. They even still spend holidays together, per People.

The couple’s storybook devotion is worthy of its own movie, starting with how they met. In an interview last month with Vulture, Banderas described the first time he laid eyes on the Working Girl actress.

“The first time I went to the Academy Awards after we got a nomination for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, we got on the red carpet and I saw this blonde woman and I knew her because I saw movies of her, but I didn’t remember [her name] at the time. So, I said to Pedro, ‘Who is she? Who is she? What is her name?’ Pedro said, ‘That’s Melanie Griffith!’ I said, ‘That’s it. Oh my God.’ Six years later, I was married to her.”

The “Pedro” he’s referring to is Spanish maestro Pedro Almodóvar. The two have collaborated on many projects together, including his current film, Pain & Glory, a semi-autobiographical peek into a film director’s past that also stars Penelope Cruz. Banderas plays Salvador Mallo, a variation of Almodóvar himself—it’s a role that has scored Banderas the top acting prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Banderas is currently dating Nicole Kimpel, a 38-year-old investment adviser who lives in London (that’s the two of them above at this year’s Cannes, above). But that doesn’t stop him from hanging with the loves of his life. “My family is in Los Angeles,” he said to People. “I love to see them.”

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