Melanie Griffith struggled for years with her health and tumultuous romances, but her mom Tippi Hedren always had her back and continues to be a real spitfire who keeps her grounded and on track to this day, a source exclusively tells In Touch.
The 95-year-old retired actress and animal rights activist, known mostly for her collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, who she accused of assault when filming The Birds and Marnie in 1963 and 1964 respectively, had Melanie, 67, with her first husband, the actor Peter Griffith.
Continuing in the family business of entertainment, Melanie became an A-list star in her heyday with hits like Lolita, Working Girl, Body Double and even starred alongside her mother in 1981’s Roar.
The source notes that even though “Melanie may have eclipsed Tippi’s brief but starry career as an actress,” the Milk Money actress “credits her mom for everything she accomplished and more.”
Throughout Melanie’s career, Tippi has been closely advising her daughter and providing a shoulder to lean on, even attending red carpet events together on occasion. While the Night Moves actress was working her way toward her debut at 17 with the movie, “Tippi let Melanie be free and indulged her passions and never failed to mention her ‘beautiful’ daughter.”
Melanie’s daughter by first husband Don Johnson, Dakota Johnson, would go on to expand the family’s A-list dynasty, though the source says Tippi now feels uncomfortable with the way her daughter and Don, 75, got together.
The Miami Vice actor was 22 when he began dating 14-year-old Melanie, which Tippi now believes she was a bit too c’est la vie about at the time.
“Tippi may admit she had misgivings about Don Johnson dating her then-teenaged daughter, but she’s always let Melanie live her life as long as she didn’t stray too far from her gaze,” the insider explains. “Tippi stayed positive when Melanie married and divorced Don twice.”
“No two people were ever more in love in the world,” Tippi told People the year before they married, in 1975.
Melanie is extremely thankful for the way her mother brought her up, looked after her and gave her advice throughout her life. When she won the timeless beauty award at the 2nd Annual Hollywood Beauty Awards in Los Angeles in 2016, she gave a sweet dedication to her mother, saying, “Really, I would like to say that this should be for my mom, who’s right there. She is the timeless beauty. So mom, I’m going to take this on your behalf. I love you.”
“Tippi and Melanie are never far from each other’s thoughts and spend lots of time together,” the source assures. “Melanie, her exes, her kids and their partners including Dakota and Chris [Martin], and Tippi – they’re all one big happy family. Tippi, at 95, is still the life force that keeps them all together.”
Melanie previously echoed the sentiment, speaking about what an inspiration her mother has been to her and how she’s working to keep that spirit alive in her family. “She became an example of what to never let happen in my life,” she said in 2017. “Hopefully, I’ve passed that on to Dakota — to be strong in your work and in yourself.”
