Don Johnson has grown closer to ex-wife Melanie Griffith in recent years, sources exclusively tell In Touch, adding that he still has a lot of love for the mother of his daughter Dakota Johnson.
Though the 74-year-old Miami Vice alum has been happily married to teacher Kelley Phleger since 1999, “Don will always have affection for Melanie, too,” says a source.
“They’re so proud of their daughter, Dakota,” adds the insider. “They’ve been frequent guests to Dakota and Chris Martin‘s house in Malibu for family get togethers, and Don’s in tight with Melanie’s mom, Tippi Hedren.”
Don met Melanie, 67, in 1972, when he and Tippi were costarring in The Harrad Experiment. At the time Melanie was 14 and he was 22. On her 18th birthday, they became engaged and were married in January 1976. However, they separated that July and divorced a few months later in November.
Don and Melanie remarried in 1989, the same year they welcomed daughter Dakota, now 34. They divorced for a second time in 1996.
Still, the family always remained close. Don revealed in an August 28 Instagram post that he and Tippi, 94, are collaborating once again. “Beautiful….my costar,” he simply captioned a picture of them together, without revealing any other details on the project.
While the Working Girl star also moved on following her second split with Don — she was married to Steven Bauer from 1981 to 1989 and to Antonio Banderas from 1996 to 2015 — “Don can’t help but feel protective over Melanie,” the In Touch source explains.
“It’s in his DNA,” the insider says. “They’ve known each other a very long time, and Don’s supported Melanie through her health issues.”
In December 2009, Melanie had surgery to remove skin cancer. Nearly nine years later, she revealed she had undergone further surgical treatments to remove cancerous skin from her face. She has also been candid about her epilepsy diagnosis.
“My brain is so f–ked up,” she said in 2017, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “The last two [seizures] that I had I was on a boat outside of Cannes — on a big yacht — and I was extremely stressed out. Every seizure that I had was at a point when I was extremely stressed.”
She added, “[During] one, they took me off the boat. I had this major grand mal seizure, and they took me to the hospital in Cannes and then brought me back to the boat. And then I had another seizure, and I went back. They did the EEG and started to look at it seriously. When I came back [to the United States], I was diagnosed with epilepsy and nobody had said to me over a period of 20 years, no one paid enough attention to even diagnose me.”
These days, Melanie appears to have her health under control and remains single. However, the In Touch source says Don would be willing to help his wife in the romance department if she’d be open to it.
“He’d probably help set her up with one of his single pals if that’s what she wanted,” the source says. “Melanie’s happiness means a lot to him. It’s quite touching to see them together. [They’re] friends for life.”
