The internet had plenty to say after Dakota Johnson shared her two cents on the “nepo baby” title — a label she has been tagged with on several occasions in the past.
The Fifty Shades of Gray star, who is the daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith, said she thinks it’s “just lame” that journalists would choose to write about nepotism, and her remarks sparked a wave of comments about how her privilege allows her to make such statements.
Dakota shared her thoughts on the “nepo baby” label when she made an appearance on the Today Show to talk about her new film, Madame Web.
A clip of the interview, shared on Twitter by the Today show, started off by showcasing a few moments of Dakota’s recent Saturday Night Live monologue, where the actress admits she is not good at talking to journalists.
Dakota Johnson dropped a truth bomb in her SNL monologue, admitting she's not good at talking to journalists
Image credits: TODAY
“I think the big problem is that I say stuff, and then they write it down, and it’s really unfair because most of the time I’m joking,” she said in her SNL monologue.
The clip, shared by the Today Show, then goes on to show Dakota sitting in the show’s studio opposite host Hoda Kotb.
During the interview, Hoda brought up the “nepo baby” label and asked the actress what she thinks about it.
“When that first started, I found it to be incredibly annoying and boring,” she told the show’s host.
“If you’re a journalist, then write about something else. That’s just lame,” Dakota continued.
Making a reference to her SNL monologue, Dakota added, “So the opportunity to make fun of it, I jumped at.”
Dakota Johnson thinks the nepo baby headlines are "incredibly annoying and boring"
Image credits: TODAY
While on the show, Dakota also spoke about her father and said he cut her off financially when she refused to change her mind about pursuing a career in acting.
“He cut me off, so it was difficult, but I figured it out,”
Dakota said that her actor and producer father told her and her siblings that they would still get an allowance if they went to college.
"He said, 'If you go to college, you’ll still get an allowance,'" the actress said. "And I was like, 'Well, I’m going to be an actress.' So he was like, 'Alright, well, you’re on your own.'"
The actress recounted taking modeling jobs to pay her rent and eventually started to show up for auditions. When she couldn’t afford groceries, she would turn to her mother because she was “the nice one,” Dakota joked.
The actress opened up about her father cutting her off after she chose Hollywood over college
Image credits: TODAY
Dakota was born to Hollywood stars Don and Melanie while her father was shooting for the film The Hot Spot in 1989.
Her father Don has previously opened up about telling his daughter that she would no longer "stay on the payroll" if she decided not to go to college.
"We have a rule in the family that, you know, if you stay in school, you get to stay on the payroll. So, you go to college, you get to stay on the payroll," Don explained during an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers in 2021.
"Toward the end of high school, I went to [Dakota], and I said, 'So, do you want to go visit some colleges?' Or something like that. And she was like, 'Oh, no. I'm not going to college,'" Don said about his conversation with his eldest daughter.
When Don asked her how she was “going to manage,” Dakota replied, “Don't you worry about it” and then remained tight-lipped about her plans.
Weeks later, his wife Melanie told him that their daughter had been cast in the movie The Social Network.
"And the rest is, shall we say, cinema history," the happy father said at the time.
Dakota recently faced backlash over another interview she gave on a recent episode of Late Night with Seth Myers.
Calling her brief stint with the The Office the “worst time of my life,” Dakota said there were weird dynamics on set as they shot the series finale.
Dakota Johnson gave the title of the “worst time of my life” to her brief stint on the show The Office
Image credits: Late Night with Seth Meyers
“I loved that show so much, and they were like, ‘Do you want to be in the series finale?’ And I was like, ‘Of course,’ thinking that I’d show up for, like, half a day,” she told Seth Myers. “I was there for two weeks, and I’m barely in the f—ng show.”
Seth then asked whether the cast was “super sad” about the show coming to an end.
“They were sad, and also, there were weird dynamics that had been going on for the last 10 years,” Dakota recalled. “And I’m coming in like, ‘So excited to be here!’ No one wanted to talk to me.”
“I was in the background of all of these scenes, faxing things,” she added.
Seth said he “recently watched it” and joked, “It was some of the most believable faxing I’ve ever seen.”
"No one wanted to talk to me," the actress complained about being on set shooting the finale of The Office
Image credits: Peacock
After a few small roles here and there, Dakota’s career forever changed forever after she decided to be the star of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy.
Dakota recalled being unsure about the movie initially, and she said she couldn’t talk to her family about it. It was actress Emily Blunt’s advice that encouraged her to say “yes” to the movie that pushed her to stardom.
“I couldn’t talk about it to anybody. Nobody in my family knew,” Dakota said in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter. “I was cast [and] I remember I spoke to Emily Blunt, and I was like, ‘Should I do this trilogy? Because I want to have a really special career, and I want to make a certain kind of film. And I know that this is going to change things.’ She was like, ‘F—ing do it if it feels right. Just do it. Always do what you want to do.’”
After she got the push she needed, Dakota starred in the movie series that earned her worldwide acclaim and rewarded her with a cult-like fan following.
During her recent interview with Hoda on the Today show, Dakota was asked about her career trajectory, and she said the ride has been “so fun.”
"I feel so grateful. I’ve dreamt of this, and I’m still dreaming. I am still in awe. I love my job so much. I want to do it forever. I’m so astonished and grateful to be where I am," she said.
The actress spoke about her career and her family during the Today Show interview, but some netizens couldn't look past her comments on the "nepo baby" label
Some internet users thought her comments on the 'nepo baby' label stuck out like a sore thumb.
One said she won the “birth lottery,” while another called her the “ultimate nepo baby.”
A flood of comments said Dakota Johnson's reaction was typical of someone born with a silver spoon in their mouth
