Third-generation Hollywood star Dakota Johnson labeled cancel culture “horrifying” and said you can’t cancel “a human being” like they’re “an appointment.”
During a wide-ranging interview for Vanity Fair, the 32-year-old actress spoke about her experiences growing up in Hollywood as the daughter of actor Don Johnson and actress Melanie Griffith and the granddaughter of actress Tippi Hedren child star Peter Griffith, the outlet noted in a piece published Tuesday.
“My life is incredibly lucky and privileged, and the life I led growing up was remarkable—the places I went and how we lived and what we were able to experience,” the superstar shared. “But we also struggled with internal family dynamics and situations and events that are so traumatic.”
Johnson talked about spending her childhood on the road between places like San Francisco and Paris, before she touched on what she called the “heartbreaking” concept these days of “cancel culture.”
“What I struggle with in terms of cancel culture is the term cancel culture—the whole concept behind canceling a human being, like they’re an appointment,” Dakota explained. “No person will not make mistakes in their life.”
‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ turned Dakota Johnson into a globally known name—and her charming turn in Netflix’s ‘Persuasion’ will add still more fans to the club.
The actor, producer, and muse shares surprising truths about her rise in our latest cover story: https://t.co/IyaI8cLwFo pic.twitter.com/dR5EWZuuhB
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) June 28, 2022
“The point of being alive is figuring it out,” she added. “Hurting other people, harming other people is not okay. There are consequences for those actions.”
“But the concept of the Twitterverse deciding if someone just all of a sudden doesn’t exist anymore is horrifying, heartbreaking, and wrong,” the star continued. “I do think that it will pass. I believe that people want to live in a better world, ultimately. Also, Twitter makes up like, what, 12 percent of the world? I mean, some of these people can’t even spell.”
At one point, she opened up about the “psychotic” filming she went through for the trilogy “Fifty-Shades Of Grey,” which made her a household name.
She goes into further detail, explaining that the author of the books, E.L. James — who goes by Erika — had “a lot of creative control, all day, every day, and she just demanded that certain things happen” and that she “signed up to do a very different version of the film we ended up making.”
However, when asked if Dakota regretted doing the movies, she said no.
“No. I don’t think it’s a matter of regret. If I had known…” Johnson trails off. “If I had known at the time that’s what it was going to be like, I don’t think anyone would’ve done it. It would’ve been like, ‘Oh, this is psychotic.’ But no, I don’t regret it.”