Dakota Johnson opened up about her family’s extreme love for cats Friday on an at-home edition of The Graham Norton Show.
The 30-year-old Suspiria star revealed that her grandmother Tippi Hedren currently keeps ’13 or 14 lions and tigers’ at her home, though she once had dozens of the big cats wandering free around her home.
Johnson’s grandmother and her mother Melanie Griffith, 62, appeared with many of their cats in the injury-plagued 1981 film Roar.
Cat lady: Dakota Johnson, 30, revealed that her actress grandmother Tippi Hedren, 90, still keeps ’13 or 14 lions and tigers’ on her property, though she once had dozens roaming free
Johnson began the segment by confirming that her grandmother, who rose to fame in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964) before largely abandoning Hollywood, was 90 years old and still getting around, which piqued Norton’s interest in her big cats.
‘She has 13 or 14 lions and tigers,’ Johnson said. ‘There used to be 60 cats, but now there’re just a couple.’
Norton shared some of the stunning photos taken of Hedren during the days when the cats roamed freely throughout her home and the estate, including a famous photo of an enormous tiger jumping into her kitchen through the window while she was made a phone call.
Whoa: ‘She has 13 or 14 lions and tigers,’ Johnson said. ‘There used to be 60 cats, but now there’re just a couple.’ Hedren is best known for starring in The Birds (1963) for Alfred Hitchcock
Unbelievable: Norton shared a famous photo of an enormous tiger jumping into Hedren’s kitchen through the window while she was made a phone call
‘It is what it is, it’s a tiger jumping through your kitchen window,’ he said.
‘It is what it is,’ Johnson joined in with her deadpan delivery, which got a fit of laughter out of the host.
Norton also shared a famous photo of her mother Melanie Griffith as a teenager, when she jumped into her swimming pool just as a male lion grabbed at her leg to bite it.
‘Oh yeah, with the leg and the mouth,’ said Johnson, who was clearly familiar with it. ‘She didn’t lose the leg,’ she joked.
Absurd: ‘It is what it is, it’s a tiger jumping through your kitchen window,’ he said. ‘It is what it is,’ Johnson joined in with her deadpan delivery, which got a fit of laughter out of the host
Having a laugh: He also shared a photo of her mother Melanie Griffith being attacked by a lion. ‘Oh yeah, with the leg and the mouth,’ said Johnson, who was clearly familiar with it. ‘She didn’t lose the leg,’ she joked.
Cooled down: ‘By the time I was born they were all in huge compounds and it was a lot safer and it wasn’t as totally psycho as it was when they first started,’ she said
Though she has spent time with the big cats at her grandmother’s home, she never experienced the thrill and danger of so many wild creatures roaming freely.
‘By the time I was born they were all in huge compounds and it was a lot safer and it wasn’t as totally psycho as it was when they first started,’ she said.
Roar, the film Hedren and Griffith starred in with the wild animals, was released in 1981, more than 10 years after pre-production began.
The production included numerous injuries. One lion, named Cherries, bit Hedren in the head years before filming even started, scraping her skull.
Later, it scalped the film’s cinematographer, Jan de Bont, and he required 220 stitches before he was able to continue filming.
Johnson, who has been quarantining with her boyfriend Chris Martin of Coldplay since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, revealed in another interview with Extra earlier this week that she has struggled with depression since her teenage years.
Getting real: Dakota Johnson opened up about struggling with depression since she was a teenager during an interview with Extra TV earlier this week
Her home isolating without friends or family has also negatively affected her mental health.
‘You are at home, you’re not with your friends, you’re not with your family, you are not able to do the things that make you feel worthwhile,’ Johnson told Extra while promoting her new film, High Note.
‘You’re kind of in this costume of depression but not really sure of you feel that way,’ she said.
Some of the things Johnson has practiced while in sequester to fight off her mental health struggles include meditation, going for a walks, and ‘being kind to your body and your brain and yourself,’ she revealed.
Taking it easy: Johnson revealed she has practiced meditation, going for a walks, and ‘being kind to your body and your brain and yourself’ while in isolation; shown in 2018