The Stunning Transformation Of Dakota Johnson

Dakota Johnson is Hollywood royalty, but it's easy to forget the daughter of the legendary Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson isn't as ubiquitous on-screen as some of her contemporaries. Still, the lady who made "Fifty Shades of Grey" her breakout in spite of everything working against it, similar to Kristen Stewart's take-notice spin on "Twilight's" Bella, is only just getting started.

In fact, by Johnson's own admission, it seems that no matter how much praise she racks up, she'll always feel like a bit of a pretender. Whereas some famous kids coast by, she's eager to impress in her own right. While many are content with living off their names, Johnson has always wanted to forge her own path. The actor may not have grown up in front of our eyes on Disney shows and in cereal commercials, but she's certainly transformed into a stunning woman over the years.

Dakota Johnson comes from generations of Hollywood royalty. Her grandmother is the legendary Tippi Hedren of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds," and her mother is actor Melanie Griffith. But as Johnson explained in a 2016 interview with Vogue, her childhood was more normal than one might think. Johnson grew up living with her parents in Woody Creek, Colorado, and she proudly recounted how she "worked at the local store and did odd jobs like wash horses and babysit," rather than living off her folks' riches.

After Johnson's parents divorced in 1996, the youngster split her time between Colorado and Los Angeles, where her mother lived with none other than "The Mask of Zorro" star Antonio Banderas. Although it wasn't an entirely typical upbringing, Johnson acknowledged, "My parents' friends had children, and we understood each other's lives." Thinking back on those formative years, she said, "The way I grew up is the way I grew up. I didn't know different." Besides, as she noted, "In LA, there's a wider awareness of celebrity families."

Due to the nature of her parents' work as well as splitting her time between two different households, young Dakota Johnson found it difficult to put roots down. Speaking to Vogue in 2017, the actor, who began therapy at age 3, admitted to not being raised anywhere in particular, tagging along with her folks on sets with school tutors or nannies along for the ride. Neither schools nor friendships stuck.

The media circus surrounding her parents' divorce as well as their own issues was tough to contend with, too. "I was so consistently unmoored and discombobulated. I didn't have an anchor anywhere," Johnson explained. Studying presented its own set of problems because she was so used to being on set. She admitted, "I never learned how to learn the way you're supposed to as a kid. I thought, 'Why do I have to go to school on time? What's the point when you're living in Budapest for six months while your stepdad films "Evita" and you go to school in your hotel room?'"

As she got older, Dakota Johnson increasingly had to deal with her parents' fame. In 2014, she told Elle that her first regular high school experience at a Catholic boarding school in Northern California was horrible. "I was just miserable there. It was a great school, but girls in that concentration are so horrific, just horrific," she explained. Johnson eventually got her father to bail her out, leading to a transfer to Santa Monica's prestigious New Roads School, which counts the Olsen twins as alumni.

Still, although she was more settled, Johnson was confronted with stories about her family on a regular basis. "Things get made up. It's so, so sad. And there's absolutely nothing you can do about it as a 16-year-old. You're like, 'What the f***? Why? What did I do?'" she said. A story that Johnson went to rehab for a month as a teen was reportedly made up, according to the actor, who reasoned, "As a child, you trust someone, and then they f*** you over."

In spite of the issues with her parents, becoming an actor was always Dakota Johnson's goal. It did, however, surprise her father who told The Guardian in 2019, "I didn't know that she wanted to do it. She hadn't shared that with us. So she's 18, I think, at the time and I'm going: 'OK, I'll just keep my eye on her and reach out and catch her.'" However, he soon realized she was serious, acknowledging, "She has the goods. She's a wonderful actor, and in some ways better than her mother [Melanie Griffith] and me."

Dakota Johnson's grandmother Tippi Hedren confirmed with Vogue in 2017 that the family's influence wasn't to blame either. She explained, "I didn't push Melanie into films, and she didn't push Dakota. I think neither of us is the type to push." Regardless, the grandmother and granddaughter don't tend to talk shop. "But I have told her that I think it's important to do different things in life, to have a sense of balance," Hedren noted. 

On Johnson's part, she told Vogue simply, "I thought, 'This is just what my family does.' It's like, my dad's a lawyer, so I'm a lawyer."

Dakota Johnson's first personal brush with fame came via the second-most prestigious awards show in the world. With just one small role under her belt (1999's "Crazy in Alabama," in which her mother, Melanie Griffith, featured), the aspiring actor took to the stage for one of Hollywood's biggest nights of the year as Miss Golden Globe in 2006. 

Johnson was actually following in her mother's footsteps, as Griffith had the honor back in 1975, with just two uncredited roles to her name at the time. As of this writing, they are the only mother-daughter duo in history to both serve as Miss Golden Globe.

Johnson is in good company, as other famous kids have previously taken on the role, including Jack Nicholson's daughter Lorraine in 2007, and Bruce Willis and Demi Moore's daughter Rumer Willis in 2009. It may not have been a massive springboard for Johnson the way "Fifty Shades" would be, but it was certainly a take-notice moment for the then-up-and-comer. 

As it happened, just a few short years after being Miss Golden Globe, Dakota Johnson nabbed a role in David Fincher's 2010 Facebook drama "The Social Network." Although it was a small part as Amelia Ritter, a flirty paramour who got intimate with Justin Timberlake's Sean Parker character, Johnson made a major impression in the film that starred the likes of Jesse Eisenberg, who portrayed founder Mark Zuckerberg. She proudly told Interview magazine in 2012, "When I did 'The Social Network,' David Fincher told me that I managed to make a thankless character pretty awesome."

Johnson considered this the nicest thing anybody had ever said about her work, though she's probably heard much more flattering stuff in the years since. She explained the man's words meant so much because she thought he was "really cool."

In 2012, Dakota Johnson got the opportunity to show off her range thanks to the sitcom "Ben and Kate," which was sadly short-lived. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor gushed about the role, saying, "It's a lot of fun, she's like a loose cannon and can do or say anything. She's a little bit darker and meaner, not necessarily intentionally, just because she's rather selfish, so that's fun." The show only lasted one season, but the role made Johnson's comedic timing clear.

Decider, in a 2018 revisit, called it the best role of Johnson's career. The piece noted that Johnson is a very funny performer, but, because she's most well known for playing the brooding, lip-biting lead in "Fifty Shades," she often doesn't get the credit she deserves. Her character in "Ben and Kate," who was usually the scolding "voice of reason," was elevated to something much more interesting in Johnson's hands. Decider opined, "The writing staff took advantage of the actress' innate comedic timing and instead made her an active participant in the misadventure of the week."

Anastasia Steele from "Fifty Shades of Grey" might have been the role of a lifetime for Dakota Johnson, but it wasn't without controversy. The film currently sits at 25% on Rotten Tomatoes, reflecting an overwhelmingly negative reaction from critics. Fans of the book flooded cinemas, however, to the tune of $569 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. Johnson remained loyal to the franchise that made her a household name, telling Vogue in 2015 that "even if it's commercial and mainstream, the subject matter isn't." She noted, "In that way, I can do something mass but stay true to my weird interests."

Of the character of Anastasia herself, the actor explained, "She's hyperintelligent and hypersexual and very tough and very loving, and her character has so many different aspects that don't normally make sense in one person. I tried to amplify them all." James Foley, director of the sequels "Fifty Shades Darker" and "Fifty Shades Freed," said approvingly of his leading lady, "She has a very sensitive bulls*** meter, so if she does something that is the least bit unreal she just stops herself. She is just bizarrely instinctual about it all."  

When she was right on the cusp of megastardom, Dakota Johnson sat down with Vogue for a frank chat about how much her life was about to change. It was 2015, and the actor was still enjoying the benefits of relative anonymity. While she'd appeared in modeling campaigns previously, she had not necessarily been plagued by paparazzi everywhere she went. "My most favorite thing about London is that nobody recognizes me. It's really ... cool," she shared at the time.

With "Fifty Shades" about to drop in theaters worldwide just a month later, Johnson revealed her fears about no longer having the ability to blend in. "I think about my dwindling anonymity and that's really scary," she admitted, noting a big part of her would sooner live "on a ranch in Colorado" while taking care of animals and maybe even popping out a baby or two. Still, the actor acknowledged she could still do that anyway, especially if the encroaching attention ever became too much for her.

Most actors tend not to cover themselves in tattoos, lest it hinder their progress in front of the camera. But not Dakota Johnson, who by her own admission got very into covering herself with ink until it was too late to go back. In a 2016 interview with Net-a-Porter, she proudly revealed a quote from Aldous Huxley's novel "Island" that was tattooed in white and which matched her sister's, Stella Banderas, daughter of Antonio Banderas. The tattoo read: "Lightly, my darling."

Still, Johnson admitted, "Some of the others I'm not so proud of." The actor shared, "I went through a phase where I loved tattoos, and I loved the feeling of getting tattooed. But now I've outgrown them mostly, and because I always have to cover them for jobs, God, they're annoying!" Now that she's super famous and in demand, the actor understands that she "really should have listened to everyone," noting, "But therein lies my problem in life!"

As much as she might have to defend "Fifty Shades of Grey," Dakota Johnson isn't reticent about sharing her enthusiasm for playing any and every role she can, no matter the size. Explaining to Net-a-Porter why she doesn't read reviews, Johnson opined, "If people are into my work, great. But I just want to enjoy my job. Artists are complicated and sensitive people, you know? At least, I am a complicated and sensitive person." 

As for whether she prefers indies or blockbusters, the actor told Vogue definitively, "The size of a role doesn't matter to me. I don't need to be the lead of a movie in order to want to do it. I have to love the character." As someone who didn't train formally (Johnson and Juilliard "mutually" didn't click, as the actor likes to tell interviewers), she's fully assured of her choice in career. "There was no Plan B. It's mostly instinctual. I don't have a process," she shrugged.

Dakota Johnson is often described by interviewers as open, honest, and wonderfully frank, but there was one topic she didn't like being pressed on, and that was her relationship with Coldplay singer Chris Martin. A 2019 news piece in People noted that the happy couple spent Johnson's 30th birthday together, with a so-called insider revealing, "She and Chris were very affectionate. They walked around the party hand in hand. They were very cute." Johnson's mother, Melanie Griffith, previously gushed to People, "I love my daughter's boyfriend. I think that they're an awesome couple."

The two were first rumored to be dating back in October 2017. They reportedly called time on their romance in June 2019, but got back together soon after. There were rumors of matching tattoos and even a bogus pregnancy. Still, Johnson refused to discuss the relationship, telling Tatler in an interview (via E! News), "I'm not going to talk about it. But I am very happy." However, in June 2025, the couple called it quits for good.

As it turned out, Dakota Johnson's 30th birthday party was the source of some bizarre controversy when TV host Ellen DeGeneres publicly called her out on air for failing to invite her, only for Johnson to immediately deadpan that DeGeneres actually was invited and opted not to show up. The story was a major source of hilarity online for the better part of a week, with everybody and their uncle chiming in on who was really pulling the strings behind the scenes. 

It made for an intensely uncomfortable interview on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," but Johnson more than held her own, calmly setting the record straight. Naturally, the short-lived "feud" was more mindless gossip than anything else, though an interesting revelation came about when internet sleuths discovered DeGeneres was with former president George W. Bush on the day of Johnson's party. As Time reported, it caused quite a stir online.

Despite success on the big screen, Dakota Johnson still felt as though she was just figuring things out. In a 2016 interview with The Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde for Interview magazine, Johnson admitted, "I don't know what I'm doing. ... I have such an obsession with making movies that I probably will always do that. But sometimes my life can feel so suffocating, and then it can feel so massive, like I don't have a handle on it at all, and I don't know where it's going or what I'm going to do."

As for the press and the pressures of fame, she revealed, "There are some days when I can do my thing and be in the world and walk around, and it's fine. And then there are other days where it's totally not fine, and I want to crawl into a hole and die." However, as she matured, Johnson "learned to be comfortable with my life being in constant flux." 

Dakota Johnson has been acting for decades, but in recent years, she has moved into another space in the entertainment industry: producing. In 2019, Johnson co-founded TeaTime Pictures, and the company has been responsible for pictures such as "Daddio," "Cha Cha Real Smooth," and "Am I OK?" TeaTime Pictures also produced a Coldplay music video, which Johnson also co-directed.

Choosing which films to fund as a production company can be challenging. Funding a film is always a risk, especially as a burgeoning entity, but Johnson is okay with taking risks. As she said at the Variety Entertaining Marketing Summit in 2022, "There's no credo. There's no mandate. It's not like we make only one kind of movie with one kind of person. There are so many different worlds and people inside my mind and in my heart that I want to be able to amplify."

In the year following the COVID-19 pandemic, Dakota Johnson became one of the hardest-working actors in Hollywood, if only by mistake. At the time, there was so much confusion surrounding the future of the entertainment business that Johnson lost track of her filming schedule. Some projects were delayed, and others became uncertain. The actor found herself desperately trying to fill her calendar, but her efforts worked a little bit too well. Before she knew it, Johnson was locked into four back-to-back projects with no break to speak of. Grateful for the opportunities, the actor decided to see them through. She certainly didn't regret it.

Chatting to Vanity Fair in 2021 about this busy time, Johnson revealed, "It was wild and great. It just happens because in COVID it' so hard to find a slot ... We shot 'Lost Daughter,' September to October of last year, about a year ago. Then I did this film that Tig Notaro and her wife, Stephanie Allen, directed called 'Am I Okay?'" From there, Johnson also took on "Persuasion" for Netflix as well as "Cha Cha Real Smooth" — a project developed by her own company. By the time that last film came rolling around, Johnson was exhausted. Luckily, that worked for the role. "I was tired and skinny and hungry, and it worked for the part. It was like, 'We'll use this, and that's fine,'" the actor shared.

In early 2020, something you never knew about Dakota Johnson emerged when she welcomed Architectural Digest into her home. While giving a tour, she pointed out a bowl of limes in her kitchen and said, "I love limes. I love them. They're great. I love them so much, and I like to present them like this in my house." The internet found the comment to be funny and offbeat, and it led Jimmy Fallon to question her about her love of limes while she was a guest on "The Tonight Show" a year later. "I actually didn't even know they were in there," Johnson revealed. "I was giving the tour and went into the kitchen, and it was set dressing. I'm allergic to limes. ... It was hard to just ignore them. So, I just lied."

The joke has become one of Johnson's defining moments on the internet, and she's totally in on the joke. In a promo for her hosting gig on "Saturday Night Live" in 2024, the actor gave a tour of Studio 8H, and at the end of the video, she picked up a bowl of limes and repeated her now famous line, "I love limes." Hopefully, she didn't have an allergic reaction.

Dakota Johnson dated Chris Martin for several years. The musician was famously married to Gwyneth Paltrow for over a decade, and the former couple share two children, Apple Martin and Moses Martin. Chris Martin and Dakota Johnson didn't speak about their relationship much publicly, but Johnson seemed to have blended seamlessly into the Martin family. When asked during an interview with Bustle what she thinks about being a stepmom, Johnson said, "I love those kids like my life depends on it. With all my heart."

Johnson even had Paltrow's approval for years. In a 2020 interview with Harper's Bazaar, Paltrow spoke about her relationship with her ex-husband and mentioned how Dakota Johnson fitted into the Paltrow-Martin co-parenting dynamic. "I just adore her. I always start to think of the ampersand sign — what else can you bring in instead of being resistant to or being made insecure by?" Paltrow said of her fellow actor.

In late 2020, Dakota Johnson and her longtime partner Chris Martin sparked engagement rumors when Johnson was photographed wearing what appeared to be an engagement ring. The rumors seemed to be just that — rumors — as neither Martin nor Johnson ever commented on the stories, and the speculation died. Three years later, at the beginning of 2024, reports came out that Martin and Johnson had indeed been engaged for years, and that the ring she was spotted wearing was an engagement ring. The couple chose to keep the news private, and a source reported that Johnson and Martin had no impending plans to get married.

While Johnson didn't discuss her relationship much, she was happy to gush about Martin as a person. In her interview with Bustle, Johnson shared that she loved watching her rumored fiancé perform on stage. "I love watching him. I could watch him every day. I don't know how to explain it. I feel like, I don't know ... I'm watching my most favorite being do his most favorite thing," she said.

Dakota Johnson steadily began to establish herself as a name to be reckoned with, rather than one heavily associated with the "Fifty Shades of Grey" series. Her role in the 2023 film "Daddio" helped solidify this transformation, especially because she functioned as both an actor and a producer. Although the movie itself did not earn spectacular reviews from major publications, Johnson earned praise for her onscreen presence. An especially critical review in The Guardian went so far as to declare, "Life is also breathed into the film by her two stars, making the very most of the limited exercise, Johnson further proving herself to be magnetic regardless of the material (a skill learned early from the 'Fifty Shades' franchise)."

This special element could partially stem from the way that Johnson reimagined the female lead of Girlie. While she loved the way that the character came off in the original script, Johnson wanted Girlie to have a unique sort of look that would change the way audiences viewed her. When asked how she transformed the character, Johnson told Collider Interviews, "The way Girlie looks. The whole look was something I came up with — with [writer and director, Christie Hall], obviously, with her permission. She was written to look quite different." Ultimately, the character allowed Johnson to express her creativity fully.

For many actors, it's a dream to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If their role is a hit, it can secure them work for years to come and potentially earn them lots of money. Dakota Johnson's time in the MCU hasn't panned out that way, unfortunately, and signs point to her being a one and done superhero. In 2024, Johnson starred as Cassandra Webb in "Madame Web," and despite backing from the world famous production company, a star studded cast, and a buzzy press tour, the movie did not fare well among critics or audiences.

As Johnson shared in her interview with Bustle, the poor reviews weren't much of a shock. And the actor doesn't envision herself as reprising the role. "It was definitely an experience for me to make that movie. I had never done anything like it before. I probably will never do anything like it again because I don't make sense in that world," Johnson said. The film's reviews did have one bit of redemption — multiple outlets have labeled "Madame Web" a future cult classic.

"Madame Web" might not have been a critical success, but it did renew the public's love for Dakota Johnson (though to be fair, that never really went away). Throughout her career, Johnson has earned a reputation for having a silly, sarcastic sense of humor during interviews that isn't always detected. 

While promoting "Madame Web," Johnson's interview persona was at its peak, proving that she's not just in on the jokes, she's the one writing them. And fans can't get enough of her interviews. "First she lied about the limes. Then she called filming Madame Web with a blue screen 'absolutely psychotic' and said, 'I don't know if this is going to be good at all.' And now this. We need more unhinged celebrities like Dakota Johnson," one Twitter user said about a clip that showed Johnson was unable to name the three Tom Holland "Spider-Man" films.

Johnson addressed the "Madame Web" press tour with her signature sense of humor in her 2024 "Saturday Night Live" monologue. "I'm just not good at talking to journalists," she said. "I think the big problem is that I say stuff, and then they write it down." Johnson added that she's never taken interviews seriously and cut to a clip of herself as a kid rolling her eyes during one of her father's interviews. Johnson is the gift that keeps on giving.

Speaking of "Saturday Night Live," 2024 marked the year that Dakota Johnson became one of the few people to have hosted the show more than once. While it may seem like many stars have been the host more than once, that's not actually the case. There have been nearly 1,000 episodes of the show, and most celebrities only get the opportunity to host once, if at all. Only those with extreme career longevity are even eligible to return as hosts.

Johnson had a few memorable moments on "SNL" in 2024, including the sketches "Big Dumb Cups" and "Please Don't Destroy — Roast." The latter sketch was particularly fun for Johnson to perform. "I had a great time," Johnson said on "Late Night With Seth Meyers" of roasting the Please Don't Destroy members. The actor added that her favorite part was reciting what they called the "nepo truce," which was, "A foot in the door and so much more," referencing both Johnson and Please Don't Destroy members John Higgins and Martin Herlihy, who, like Johnson, are nepo babies.

While Dakota Johnson's professional pursuits took off after the COVID-19 pandemic, her love life just got complicated. After years of a will they/won't they dynamic, Johnson and Chris Martin split up. Making things super awkward, Dakota Johnson's ex-boyfriend wasted no time moving on with another A-List actor. Indeed, Martin was linked to "Game of Thrones" star Sophie Turner, who had recently left her relationship with Joe Jonas. If this all sounds extremely messy, that's because it is.

Rumor has it that Martin began dating Turner before he was fully over Johnson. One source close to the former couple even told RadarOnline that the musician is still pining for his movie star ex, claiming "he's still hung up on her." Interestingly, the insider went on to say that Martin's feelings toward Johnson are not reciprocated. "He tried several times to lure Dakota back, but she was determined to break the toxic cycle," they claimed.

Johnson left her relationship with Martin feeling optimistic about finding "the one." Five months after the split, a source told People that the actor "has been slowly dating again and she's happy." Some people feel troubled following a breakup, but Johnson apparently was relieved to move on from her eight-year romance. Per the same insider, "Her relationship with Chris was often hot and cold, and while she always hoped they'd work out, she seems lighter and more at peace now that it's final."

In 2025, Dakota Johnson once again returned to the stage of "Saturday Night Live." However, rather than acting as the show's host, Johnson made a surprise cameo during Lily Allen's live performance of her single, "Madeline." The song is widely believed to be a letter to the "other woman" who played a role in Lily Allen and David Harbour's messy breakup. During Allen's killer performance on "SNL," Johnson brought the Madeline character to life by lying on a bed hidden behind sheer curtains. At the end of the song, she stepped onto the stage with Allen and planted a kiss on the singer's cheek. The performance was largely viewed as just another part of the nasty feud between Lily Allen and David Harbour's alleged mistress.

What really got people talking, though, was Johnson's incredible outfit. Dressed in a $900 lingerie dress by Bode, the actor looked absolutely fire. She paired the risqué piece with a sheer coat covered in sequins and a chunky green necklace that embodied the affair partner vibe perfectly. Far from being one of Dakota Johnson's most inappropriate talk show outfits, this ensemble could not have been more fitting. If anything, it stood as one of her best fashion moments of all times.