Melanie Griffith is more than an actress, she has become a household name with all of the entertainment she has provided over the years. She is also an interesting person, but most people don’t understand her life aside from what they see on the screen.
When Melanie Griffith was young, she was in an interesting position. She continued to have an interesting private life as she grew older, being married three times, finding herself in rehab, and raising three children.
During the 80s, Melanie Griffith was a well-known actress. She played in a lot of romantic movies, but that wasn’t what she always wanted to do. In fact, she was more interested in the horror genre, but she was typecast at that point.
Born in 1957, she lived in New York with her parents, Peter Griffith and Tippi Hedren, who was a very famous actress. She had an interesting life as a child, to say the least, but she also had some tragedy in it as well.
Being exposed to show business from a very young age, she also was living in extravagant childhood. Her mother married an agent and producer when she was only seven years old and they made a film about lions. In order to get to know the big cats, they brought them to their home.
Back in the 1970s, Melanie Griffith was growing up with lions in her home in Los Angeles. She said: “I grew up with lions, tigers, and two elephants.”
The pet lion, Neil, lived with the family. There weren’t any incidents, but years later, there were some issues associated with lions in her life.
When Melanie Griffith got her first break, it was in a commercial. She did some modeling work and eventually, made her debut in Extra! At the age of 12 in an uncredited role.
She met Don Johnson when she was 14 years old and played in The Harrad Experiment. They were controversial because of their age difference, but they were in love and they continued with their relationship.
Her mother was worried because of the age difference, as he was 22 at the time. When she was 15, however, Melanie Griffith moved in with Don Johnson and they got engaged on her 18th birthday.
Her mother 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.”
Eventually, they were married in Las Vegas in 1976 but they split after only six months. They later rekindled the romance and got married again in 1989.
Melanie Griffith continued with her acting career and in 1981, she starred in the film, Roar. She was accustomed to being around lions since she was with them when she was a child, but she got injured in front of the camera.
She got mauled near her eye and almost lost her eyesight. She also got plastic surgery and needed skin grafts, but was able to overcome the problem.
In speaking about the lioness, she said that it “didn’t mean to hurt me. Just, after seven years growing up with the lions, I forgot you have to be careful. You can never be sure you’re safe, and just a blow can pop your head like a ping pong ball.”
Meanwhile, Melanie Griffith was working on another relationship and got married in 1981 to actor Stephen Bauer. They had a son, Alexander four years later. Eventually, they would get divorced in 1989.
That is when Griffith found love with Don Johnson again. They would have a daughter, Dakota Johnson, who also became an actress. They would eventually also get divorced again in 1996.
She said: “You have to understand that we have a tie, and I love him. I will always love [Don Johnson]. But just because you love someone doesn’t necessarily mean that you can live with them.”
The same year that she split with Don Johnson, her new husband-to-be would go through a divorce with his wife. That was Antonio Banderas, and they soon got married.
They met while filming the comedy film Too Much and realized that they were both unhappy in their marriages. They saw that each other was in a similar situation and they felt an attraction to each other.
They were married in May 1996 and had a daughter, Stella, that same year.
Down to this day, Melanie Griffith remains strongly bonded with Antonio Banderas, despite the fact that they got divorced in 2014. They are no longer married, and have moved on to other relationships but they still continue to be friends.
