As a third-generation movie star whose grandmother (Tippi Hedren) starred in and whose mother (Melanie Griffith) and father (Don Johnson) are both famous actors, Dakota Johnson was born beautiful. She was born rich. She was born into a world of fame and wealth.
Johnson was also born with zero fucks to give. Johnson’s ascent to contemporary-folk-hero-speaking-truth-to-power status kicked into high gear during a legendary visit to where the now-disgraced talk show host complained about not being invited to Johnson’s thirtieth birthday party. The iconoclastic actress broke the Hollywood code of polite silence by insisting that because Ellen gave her so much shit about not being invited to her last birthday, she made sure to ask her this time around.
“Actually, no, that’s not the truth, Ellen. You were,” are Johnson’s exact words. Things grew less awkward from there, but only because it would have been impossible for them to be more uncomfortable.
It was a brief exchange on a television show that nevertheless did immeasurable damage to Ellen’s brand as niceness personified while establishing Johnson as a rebellious truthteller willing to call the Hollywood establishment out on its lies and its bullshit. DeGeneres foolishly doubled down on her insistence that she was not invited to the party. Johnson held her ground and insisted that she invited Ellen, but Ellen did not come.
Then, puzzlingly, DeGeneres confronted her publicly on her talk show rather than discuss any.
