Dear Gossips,

I know what you want to talk about today and we’ll get to those two, I promise, but let’s start with Dakota Johnson because there's kinda a Taylor Swift connection there anyway, since she shouted out TS during her opening monologue on Saturday Night Live this weekend.

Have I ever mentioned how attracted I am to Dakota Johnson? She is sexy AF, I definitely want to make out with her, and I love that she went for it with her monologue outfit. This episode, however, well it wasn’t great. And I wonder if it’s because they’re saving all their good sh-t for Ayo Edebiri next weekend. Also, you know, there was just so much… him.

Still, there were moments. She really committed in that trashy talk show sketch…

And of course the Please Don’t Destroy Roast was probably the strongest of the night…

And the Horny Little Dork (cut for time) probably made a lot of women feel seen.

But, again, these were highlights in an otherwise weak episode.

That’s not really what I’m here to talk about though. What I’m here to talk about is the afterparty and two key guests who attended in support of Dakota: Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas, seen arriving arm-in-arm.

Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas attend the SNL after party in New York, January 28, 2024

They were together almost 20 years. They divorced in 2014 but they’ve remained close, obviously. Dakota was only five when Melanie and Antonio fell in love. So for sure he helped raise her – and they’re super tight. Here they all are at a premiere in 2003.

Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith along with Griffith's daughter Dakota arrive at the "And Starring Pancho Villa As Himself" HBO premiere afterparty at Gotham Hall August 18, 2003 in New York City

And here’s Dakota with Antonio in 2019, presenting to him at the Hollywood Film Awards where she got emotional during her remarks. She calls him “Papi” and this is how she described their relationship:

"I come from a family of many a marriage and I got very lucky. I got a bonus dad who I realized that, over time, is actually one of the most influential people in my whole life. When I was six years old, my mother married a man who brought an unbelievably bright light and a whole new world of creativity and culture—and one remarkably magical little sister into our family.” Tearing up, Johnson continued, "My stepfather—f*#k! Antonio Banderas burst into our lives. He was so vibrant and so fun and so funny and his English was abstract and we found it absolutely amazing. He loved my mother, and my siblings and I so big, and so fiercely and so loud, that it would change all of our lives together."

So to see Melanie and Antonio in New York this weekend, probably so proud as the watched their daughter host the show… it’s loving and wholesome and sweet and Hollywood could probably use a lot more of that.

Antonio Banderas and Dakota Johnson at the 23rd Annual Hollywood Film Awards, Press Room, Beverly Hilton, Los Angeles, 03 Nov 2019

Yours in gossip,

Lainey

Melanie Griffith Gossip

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