Dakota Johnson's True Feelings About The 'Nepo Baby' Criticism
"Madame Web" star Dakota Johnson said she's never bothered taking the time to get tangled up in Hollywood's "nepo baby" controversy — that is until she could ridicule it.
Dakota Johnson — the daughter of actors Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith — poked fun at being viewed as a "nepo baby" in a "Saturday Night Live" short film with Please Don't Destroy comedy trio John Higgins, Martin Herlihy, and Ben Marshall. In an interview with "TODAY" co-host Hoda Kotb, Johnson explained part of her motivation behind taking a shot at nepo baby coverage. "When that first started, I found it to be incredibly annoying and boring," Johnson told Kotb. "If you're a journalist then write about something else. That's just lame. The opportunity to make fun of it, I jumped at."
The entertainment media's fascination with nepo babies erupted at the end of 2022 after showbiz family privilege was called out in New York Magazine. Some high-profile stars, including Jamie Lee Curtis, hit back at the "nepo baby" label. "The current conversation about nepo babies is just designed to try to diminish and denigrate and hurt," Curtis wrote on her Instagram account.
Curtis is the daughter of "The Defiant Ones" star Tony Curtis and legendary "Psycho" star Janet Leigh. Other actors — like "Top Gun: Maverick" star Lewis Pullman, the son of "Independence Day" star Bill Pullman" — said privilege makes him work even harder.
Don Johnson told Dakota Johnson she was on her own when she started acting
In Dakota Johnson's "TODAY" show interview with Hoda Kotb, the "50 Shades of Grey" trilogy star said having a showbiz dad didn't offer her any advantages, at least monetarily. Her father, "Nash Bridges" star Don Johnson, insisted that she was going to college. However, Johnson said she made it clear to him that she wanted to act and ultimately paid a steep price for it.
As a result, Don Johnson cut off his daughter financially. "It was difficult, but I figured it out," Dakota Johnson told Kotb. "He said if you go to college you still get an allowance, and I was like, 'Well, I'm going to be an actress. So he was like, 'Alright, you're on your own.' I was cut off."
Johnson told Kotb that she did some modeling jobs to pay her rent and found work in acting after going on auditions. "I definitely had moments where I couldn't afford groceries and I needed to ask my mom to help me — she was the nice one," Johnson added with a laugh.
Johnson's mom, Melanie Griffith, had a shared experience with her daughter, given that her mother is legendary actress Tippi Hedren.