What Dakota Johnson and Melanie Griffith Learned About Hollywood Abuse from Matriarch Tippi Hedren
The Hollywood Reporter united some of the industry’s most acclaimed families for its Hollywood Legacies feature.
Profiles included that of the Hedren-Griffith-Johnsons, comprised of Tippi Hedren, 87, and her Working Girl daughter Melanie Griffith, 60, as well as Griffith’s ex-husband Miami Vice star Don Johnson, 68, and the former couple's daughter, Fifty Shades of Grey star Dakota Johnson, 28 (below, left)
Melanie and Dakota both learned about issues of sexual misconduct in Hollywood through Hedren's personal experiences. She described the sexual harassment and assault she faced while working with Alfred Hitchcock, who directed her in films such as The Birds and Marnie, in her 2016 memoir, Tippi.
"I wasn't allowed to go to the set," Griffith explained. When she was 6 years old, she recalls receiving a gift from the auteur: a figurine of her mother lying down in a box. "It was a f—ing coffin!" she exclaimed.
"She became an example of what to never let happen in my life," Griffith continued. "Hopefully, I've passed that on to Dakota—to be strong in your work and in yourself."
"I was taught self-respect and grace and strength,” Dakota added. “Never before this moment did anyone in my family [explicitly] say, like, 'Be careful.' Sometimes, powerful men in Hollywood will try to whatever."
In the interview, Griffith also detailed meeting Dakota’s father on set when she was just 14 (and he 22), much to the chagrin of Hedren. "I thought he was the most beautiful person I'd ever seen," Griffith said.
"They were two beautiful, wonderful people, and here, my daughter was showing signs that I had never seen before in her, with an older man, and there was just sheer panic," the Birds star recalled.
RELATED: Dakota Johnson and Mom Melanie Griffith Look Like Sisters on the Red Carpet
Another famous family included in THR’s piece is the Joneses, an industry canvassing clan that includes music producer Quincy Jones, 84, and his actress daughter, Rashida Jones, 41.
"We laugh a lot," the Angie Tribeca star says of her dynamic family. "In an industry that is sometimes shady, sometimes lame, sometimes frustrating, it's nice that none of those are words I would use to describe my family."
Read the full article on The Hollywood Reporter.
