:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(745x260:747x262)/Dakota-Johnson-Madonna-082025-9ca147237f89460eb33694562c93b459.jpg?ssl=1 "Dakota Johnson Reveals She’s Been ‘Weird Friends’ with Madonna for Years")
NEED TO KNOW
- Dakota Johnson told E! News that she and Madonna have been “weird friends for a while” when asked about appearing on the pop star’s Instagram in photos from a party in July
- “We’ve always kind of circled each other, but she is an energy to be near that is so beautiful and so wild,” Johnson said
- The Splitsville star also noted that she first met Madonna as a child, when Madonna costarred with Johnson’s stepfather Antonio Banderas in the 1996 movie musical Evita
Dakota Johnson is sharing new details about her surprising friendship with Madonna!
When Johnson, 35, and Adria Arjona sat down with E! News recently to discuss their new movie Splitsville, Johnson fielded a question about her recent appearance alongside Madonna, 67, in a collection of photos the pop star shared to Instagram on July 14. In those photos, Johnson leaned her head against the legendary singer-songwriter’s shoulder as the pair posed alongside Madonna’s talent manager Guy Oseary and comedian Dave Chappelle at Creative Artists Agency executive Maha Dakhil’s birthday party.
“I really love her. We’ve been like weird friends for a while,” Johnson said of spending time with the Madonna. “I met her when I was really young because she did a movie with my stepfather, and then I got to know her later because we were going to work together on something.”
“We’ve always kind of circled each other, but she is an energy to be near that is so beautiful and so wild,” she added. “It’s just cool that she even wants to talk to me.”
Madonna/Instagram
Madonna, who is best known for starring in movies like A League of Their Own on top of her chart-topping recording career, starred in the 1996 film adaptation of Evita opposite Antonio Banderas. Banderas, 65, was married to Johnson’s mother Melanie Griffith from 1996 to 2014, and Evita — based on the 1978 Andrew Lloyd Weber musical of the same name — debuted in theaters in December ’96, several months after Banderas and Griffith tied the knot. (Johnson’s father is Don Johnson, whom Griffith was married to in 1976 and then remarried to between 1989 and 1996.)
While Johnson did not share what project she and Madonna had spoken about working on before, the singer’s 1984 hit “Material Girl” was featured in the first trailer for Johnson’s other movie this summer, the romantic drama Materialists. Madonna last appeared in a movie with a voice role in the 2006 movie Arthur and the Invisibles; she also cowrote and directed a movie titled W.E. in 2011.
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Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty
Madonna has been working on producing a biopic based on her life and career for some time now, with Julia Garner attached to star as the “Queen of Pop” herself. Johnson, meanwhile, will next appear on the big screen in the adaptation of author Colleen Hoover’s novel Verity in 2026. In May, Johnson revealed during her trip to the Cannes Film Festival that she is planning to make her feature directorial debut with a new movie written by Vanessa Burghardt, whom she costarred with in the 2022 romantic comedy Cha Cha Real Smooth.
Splitsville is in limited theaters Aug. 22 and expands nationwide Sept. 5.
